All the love needed
by Elfarock
Summary: Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape are de-aged in the battle of Hogwarts. In mortal danger, they are at the mercy of weary fighters from the Light side. When others would kill the toddlers, Harry rescues them and tries to instill love in their hearts. As they grow surrounded by love and affection, will they revert to their murderous ways at the end ?
1. Chapter 1

Day 10 – Lucius gets sick

Severus : 5 Lucius : 5 Tom : 6

Harry woke up to the pitter-patter of rain against the windows and a warm touch of skin on his shoulder.

"Harry! someone called him, Harry, wake up!"

He slowly opened his emerald eyes. In the dim light coming from the door, all Harry could see was the figure of a kid. The kid couldn't be more than 6 years old. He had straight dark hair and dark eyes.

"What's wrong Sev? Nightmare?" Harry answered. He was still not completely awake. He grabbed his wand from the night-stand and checked the time with a quick Tempus. It was only 4AM.

"Come, Harry! It's Luc, he's sick..." The kid sounded worried and tears were brimming in his eyes.

Harry shook himself awake and quickly made for the door, grabbing the kid and carrying him on his hip. He was really crying now, his sniffles muffled by Harry's tee-shirt where the kid had laid his head in the crook of his neck. Harry kissed the top of his head, trying to reassure him.

Harry exited his room and went down the corridor to the next room, where two children were sitting on the floor against the bay window. The taller one, with black wavy hair and blue eyes, was visibly comforting the other one, a cutie with his long blond hair and silver eyes.

Harry let Severus go from his arms and approached the two. Severus ran directly to Lucius,

hugging his friend tightly. Harry sat in front of them and wiped the tears on the cheeks of his little boys.

"Now, what's wrong? Where does it hurt, Luc? he asked the blond.

-My tummy is aching, Harry! he responded.

-And he's hot too! added Tom from the side.

-You did good, all of you, to call me, Harry said as he applied a cooling charm on Lucius' forehead. Stay here boys, I'm coming back in a minute"

He kissed the three boys on their foreheads and went to retrieve a vial of potion in the bathroom. A simple Cure for all minor diseases. He had learned to brew it with Mrs Weasley, a Christmas holiday when Ron and the twins fell ill.

Back in the boys' room, he made Lucius drink a third of the potion and re-corked it for later. Now that the crisis had passed, the boys looked tired, Tom was even yawning. Harry carried them all to their bed. They had a king-sized bed because they wouldn't sleep separated. They slept in the middle, all cuddled together, with Tom and Lucius on both sides of Severus. Severus and Lucius were both 5 and Tom was the eldest, at 6. They would certainly want to change sleeping arrangements when they grew up.

After making sure they were comfortable and getting to sleep, Harry came back to his bed to catch a little sleep before the morning.

Day 1 – The battle of Hogwarts

Severus : 4 Lucius : 4 Tom : 4

The Battle of Hogwarts, as it was instantly named, was at its peak. The battlefield was full of corpses from either side, young students laying with dark creatures at their sides, their eyes wide open, unseeing.

Most of the Death Eaters were dead or had fled. Some dark creatures were still standing and giving the Light side a great deal of work. Some of the last Aurors to be on the Light side had arrived 30 minutes ago and were trying to contain the creatures, so that the students, wounded but still alive, could evacuate to the infirmary.

Harry Potter was duelling with Lord Voldemort while his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, fought against Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy.

All fighters were covered with scratches and cuts, some deeper than others, created by spells and claws and knives. The teenagers were beginning to tire and their spells took longer to fuse. They were getting hurt more easily.

_It was that moment that would be decisive for the future of the Wizarding World._

At this instant, an unknown spell came from Filius Flitwick, who was bleeding heavily from a deep gouge on his side. _Infirmare Inimicus_ was the incantation. Weaken my enemy.

A great strike of light hit the three Dark wizards, before surrounding their bodies in a soft golden glow. The glow grew brighter by the second, until it became blinding.

When Harry opened his eyes again, three toddlers sat before him. One had dark brown hair and blue eyes, another had black hair and eyes and the third was a silver-eyed blond. It was easy to understand what had happened and who the toddlers were.

When the remaining Darks side fighters saw what happened, they fled, apparating from the spot, as the wards had fallen ages ago.

Some Aurors were approaching the little boys, wands raised. Their intent was written clearly across their faces: kill the Dark Lord and his most trusted followers before they could make even more damage.

Thinking fast, Harry threw a shield at the boys and went to pick them up from the ground. They were crying, screaming for their parents. They quite obviously didn't know where they were and who the people surrounding them were.

To Harry, they were only toddlers, scared to death, but the Aurors and his friends were looking at him as if he had grown another head.

"Harry, what are you doing ? asked Hermione, softly.

-What are we going to do with them ? replied Harry, are we going to kill children ?

-You know who they are, mate, added Ron, we can't let them live, they're monsters.

-Mr. Potter, said an Auror, please give them to me.

\- I can't do that, Harry sighed. I won't let you harm them. They maybe grew up to become the monsters we know but right now, they are only kids and too many kids have died today already. We can try to raise-

-No, mate, cut Ron, no, you can't give them another chance, they fucked up too much. How do you think you can change them ?

-By giving them what they lacked ! screamed Harry, giving them the love and affection they didn't get, raise them to learn respect and compassion, by being human with them for once ! "

The others were raising their wands, ready to fire _Stupefy_s and take the boys from him, but Harry was faster. He apparated to the first safe place he thought of.

He was now in the seventh floor corridor, with arms full of toddlers still screaming their lungs off, pacing three times in front of the blank wall, waiting for the door to appear. The Room of Requirement, perfect for all situations, impossible to enter while somebody was already using it. He prayed the Room was still capable of functioning after their little stunt with the Fiendfyre earlier.

_I need a place to be safe, I need a place where no one can enter, I need a place to raise three children_. The wishes were rudimentary but he was in a rush and would make do with what the Room would give him.

After the three passes before the wall, an ornate wooden door appeared. Wasting no time, Harry opened the door and rushed inside with his light burden.

The door slammed shut after him, many bolts sliding into place and a heavy rock falling before it. Harry also sensed wards closing the opening more securely.

They were safe.

Day 21 – Breakfast and nicknames

Severus :6 Lucius : 6 Tom :8

Severus was just over 6, Lucius 6 ½ and Tom was the eldest, at 8. They were 4 when Harry rescued them. Lucius and Severus aged a year every 10 days approximately and Tom was aging around twice as fast as the other two, a year every 5 days.

Harry didn't know why they were aging that fast, but, according to his calculations, they would come back to their initial age within a year. He hadn't had the time to ask the specifics of the spell before fleeing but it was most likely related to the fact that they lived in the Room of Requirement. Harry wasn't sure it was fully functional and tried to use it as little as possible while living inside it –it was quite complicated.

It had, for the moment, two floors, two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a bathroom, a study and a potions laboratory. There was also a large garden at the back, where all kinds of flowers were growing.

The defences were holding fast, even if they could hear someone banging against the door every day at noon.

Despite all of this, Harry was trying to raise three little boys alone and to give them all the love they needed, and it was definitely hard.

He gave nearly all his time to them, only retaining some 5 hours a week to read Defence journals that kept appearing on the shelves in the study.

As the boys were all 6 by now, he began teaching them how to write, read and count. He had no idea how the learning went in the wizarding world so he based his lessons on the memories he had from muggle ones he received at that age.

He also began to explain magic to them, what he was doing with his wand on an everyday-life basis and how everything was made easier because of it. He wanted them to know the worth of magic, he taught them everything the muggle way and then demonstrated the easier way with magic.

The boys loved the new spells he showed them and he was delighted to see them as amazed as he had been when he had seen magic for the first time, at 11.

This morning, the three little boys had decided to make breakfast themselves, without telling Harry. As it was a Sunday, Harry was sleeping later and the boys had ample time to prepare everything before he awoke.

Tom was leading the other two, having observed Harry for the past week, memorising where everything was.

He directed them to the cupboards to fetch the glasses, the cups and bowls, and the cutlery.

He took the pumpkin juice, butter and milk from the charmed-cold cupboard, the bread and croissants from the top counter and put it all on the table top.

They arranged the items for all four of them and picked a bright yellow flower from Harry's garden to lay in the middle.

Harry sometimes put flowers from the garden all over the house, brightening the rooms and bringing in new smells.

When they deemed everything perfect, they went to Harry's room to wake him up. The door was opened already, Harry left it open because he knew the little guys were too small to reach the handle (Tom was taller than the other two but he slept so soundly that when the little ones needed something they had to come to Harry).

Harry woke up when Lucius jumped on his stomach, blowing the wind out of his lungs.

"Ouch, Luc, what are you doing so early in the morning ? he sighed.

-It's already 10am Harry, said Tom.

-And we prepared breakfast ! yelled Lucius, still perched on Harry, With croissants !"

The boys were smiling, and Severus climbed on the bed to tickle Harry in the neck. They had had a tickle war earlier this week and Severus made sure to remember everyone's weak spots because, as the smallest, he was the easiest target. After torturing their elder, the boys dragged him to the kitchen. Harry was smiling softly and bended down to kiss the little guys on their foreheads.

"Thanks lovely, he said to Lucius, thanks darling, he continued, to Tom, thanks sweetheart, he finished with Severus.

-Lovely ? Darling ? Sweetheart ? they asked, with little frowns.

-I think these would be the perfect nicknames for you cuties, exclaimed Harry, a grin playing on the side of his mouth. Yeah, I'm going to call you that from now on ! "

He laughed at their faces and settled down to honour their beautiful present.

Day 26 – The question of memories

Severus : 6 Lucius : 7 Tom : 9

Harry was worried. The boys had been having multiple headaches these past few days. Even with painkiller potions and soothing charms, they were still rubbing their temples in pain.

He had performed countless diagnostic spells but all came back blank. He was beginning to get desperate.

"Harry ? asked Lucius.

-What is it Lovely ? Still have a headache ? I'm working on it, don't worry.

-I see pictures…

-You see what ? demanded Harry, distracted. He was scouring medical journals to find a cure.

-I see pictures, said Lucius, a little louder, in my head !"

That got Harry's attention. He asked the two other boys if they had images in their heads too, and after getting a positive answer, began thinking about a new hypothesis.

"Okay boys, I need your help. Can you describe the pictures to me ?

-There is a big man, and he's angry, Severus began. He's hitting a woman and drinking. He insults me too. I'm scared, Harry."

Harry was paling a little. He had an inkling as to what the 'pictures' were. Memories from their original childhoods.

"I have different ones, continued Lucius. I am alone in a big house and when the people are here they ignore me."

Tom was the last to speak.

"I am in an orphanage, I think, he said. The person in charge, a woman, she's drinking and locking me in my room. The other children are scared of me. I don't know why."

Tom seemed to have better memories than the other two, probably because he was a little older.

So the boys were getting their memories back… Harry didn't know what to do. Tell them the truth or ignore it ? If the process was constant, ignoring it would be counter-productive. Harry wanted the boys to trust him, he couldn't lie to them, not about something so important. They had to know the truth and Harry had to find a way to lessen the pain it was causing them.

First things first : how to tell children that they were only de-aged version of their adult selves ? Harry had no doubt the kids would understand. They were all really smart and seemed to understand all things magic with little effort.

He suddenly had a flash of genius. A story. His boys demanded a story every night before bed and Harry had become quite the story-teller. He just needed to present the situation as a story and get them to find the truth themselves.

"Story time kids !" he exclaimed.

The boys smiled and gathered on the couch on Harry's sides, Tom on his right, cuddling with Severus, and Lucius on his left, his head on Harry's chest.

"Once upon a time, began Harry, there were three great sorcerers.

-What were their names ? asked Lucius. He always wanted the heroes to be named after him.

-Their names were Tom, Lucius and Severus, said Harry. The boys smiled at him. They were strong and had many enemies.

-The enemies were just jealous, Severus piped up, because they're not as strong !

-Sure ! Let's say the enemies were jealous of their strength, agreed Harry. The three sorcerers were on a quest and had to fight their enemies to get the prize.

-What was the prize ? asked Tom.

-They would become Lords of the land and rule over the other wizards.

-That's a good prize, said Lucius, very seriously.

-Yes, continued Harry, so the sorcerers were determined. They were fighting against the strongest of their enemies when one wise foe came up with a plan. He had invented long ago, a time-bending charm.

-What's that ? demanded Severus.

-It's a charm that can alter time at one point in space, answered Harry. It can be used in herbology, to make plants grow faster or in the medical field, to put patients in a stasis, long enough for the Healers to find a cure. It takes a great deal of energy so it's not used that much."

Harry had done some research, with the help of the Room. Apparently, Flitwick used a variant of this charm, with the same wand movement and focus but a different incantation.

"When he used his charm on the sorcerers, it had a different outcome, however." He added a pause for effect. "They became children ! The charm had taken their time and reversed it, so that the strong sorcerers would be at their weakest point, before they had learned any magic."

The boys were captivated by the impromptu story. Now for the difficult part.

"One of their enemies saw that the sorcerers, became toddlers, were in a danger of getting killed by the strongest of his side. He knew that the sorcerers were great and fought them only because he had to. He liked the sorcerers and wanted to be with them but he couldn't leave his friends on the opposite side. His name was Harry." The boys had their eyes wide open. Never before in a story was Harry on a different side from them. He continued his story without letting them the time to comment.

"Harry took the sorcerers and Apparated in a safe place. The time-bending charm would fade away with time, the sorcerers would be adult again in a short time, he reassured the boys, who were getting sad for their heroes, but for the moment they were toddlers and he had to take care of them. He would make them happy in hope that the three sorcerers would be grateful when they became adult again. The end."

Harry was a little anxious, waiting for the boys to voice their opinion about the story, as they always did.

"I like this story, said Severus, the sorcerers are protected and happy at the end.

-And they gain a new ally." added Lucius.

Tom was looking at Harry, thinking about the story. Some things seemed familiar, even more with their names.

"We are the sorcerers, aren't we, Harry ? he asked. I remember when we were little you explained that you were our new family. And that's why you have four wands ! They're our wands !

-Is that why we have pictures in our heads ? asked Severus.

-Yes, answered Harry, proud that the boys put it together. You are the sorcerers, and the wands are yours. And I think your memories, from your first childhood, are coming back to you."

The boys took a moment to think about it.

"That's so cool ! exclaimed Lucius, are we really strong ? Are we going to be the Lords of the land ?

-Yeah you're really strong, you'll remember, you're awesome!

-But Harry, if the story is true, that means you're our enemy."

Silence fell after Severus' intervention. So much for guarding their trust with truth.

"I said in the story, explained Harry, that I had to fight you. I was born and raised on this side and all my friends and family were your enemies. If I had tried to join you, I would have been killed. I admired you from afar and sabotaged some of our operations to help you. I'll show you in the Pensieve if you want."

The boys looked reassured.

"And am I not taking good care of you ? Because that's the most important thing right now. You can't remember me as I was before, when I was your enemy, but now that I'm your family, aren't you happy ? That's the only thing I want, to take care of you. I hope that telling you the truth will help you. I'm sure that lying and hiding what I was to you in the past could only harm you in the future. Take some time to think about it. During that time I'll find a way to stop your memories from hurting you."

Day 31 – Heights

Severus : 6 Lucius : 7 Tom : 10

It was four days after the big revelation. The boys had seen some of Harry's memories, and thought a little on their own. When they had come back they all agreed that Harry was really on their side anyway and that, as he was their family now, there was no problem. They were now constantly asking him for information on their adult selves and Harry tried to tell them all he knew. Tom was delighted to know that he would be the Lord and the other two would be his subordinates. Severus said that he always knew he would be the best Potions Master in history and Lucius was happy that he was rich and had a son, as it was 'important to continue the Malfoy line'.

The memories were flowing in more easily since they knew what it was and when they were in pain, Harry made them take some of the extra memories to put in the Pensieve. They remembered but the memories were not as vivid and overwhelming.

Today they were asking about their future heights, as Lucius had taunted Severus because he was smaller.

"Who will be the tallest when we get back to our adult selves, Harry ? asked Severus.

-I don't really know… I think it's you Sweetheart. Then again you're all really close in height. Maybe you have some couple of centimetres on them ?

-I don't believe you, cried Lucius, I'm totally the tallest !

-Don't be so childish, chided Tom, it doesn't matter."

Tom was trying to be more mature than the younger ones but Harry saw that he was displeased by the fact he wouldn't the tallest. Harry had an idea to make them settle down.

"Let's make a growing tree, he said.

-What is it ? they asked

-We choose a spot, in the house, where we will mark down your heights and you can compare them. Come on, choose a wall or a doorway, we'll start now."

The boys chose the doorway linking the kitchen and the garden and Harry used his wand to slightly burn the wood. Tom was the tallest but also the oldest and Harry told Severus that he could compare his height to Tom's when he would reach 10 years old.

Harry was glad to see that he was making progress. From what he had seen of Dumbledore's memories, Tom had been a quiet and sullen child the summer before Hogwarts.

Here, at 10, Tom was a happy and smiling little boy. He loved Severus and Lucius like he would his brothers and reached out to them and Harry for physical affection.

Harry didn't know much from the other two's childhoods, only that it was far from loving and warm. He was scared that he spoiled them too much but would never stop complimenting and cuddling them.

Apparently the boys retained from their memories a thirst for love and recognition and didn't take it for granted, which prevented them from being too spoiled. It also broke Harry's heart to see them flinch from his touch the first day after they regained their memories, as if he would strike them. The instinct to recoil vanished the second day, after being swallowed in a sea of hugs and kisses.

The boys also seemed to like it when he used the pet names he came up with –Lovely for Lucius, Sweetheart for Severus and Darling for Tom- and he used them all the more when he realised it.

As Tom was getting bigger, he asked Harry to have a room of his own. Harry was reluctant to use the Room but it worked quite well for now, providing them with books and food as needed, even if sometimes there were some mishaps.

He took all the boys' possessions from their room and wished the Room to create separate sleeping quarters for the three of them. One of the rooms had a window upside down and another was bare white everywhere but on the ceiling where all the tapestry was concentrated but the boys loved their new rooms. Tom took the one with the upside down window, as he loved lazing in bed and could see outside without moving from his position. Severus loved the drape of the tapestries and the cozy feeling it was giving off, so he chose the second one. Lucius didn't like anything out of place and was quite happy with the perfect third room.

Day 37 – Tom's wand and the beginning of magical studies

Severus : 7 Lucius : 8 Tom : 11

When Tom was finally 11 (finally because he couldn't stop talking about it, anticipating the memories of his first year at Hogwarts and finally being able to do magic), Harry gave him back his wand and taught him first-year material. Harry used his experience as a teacher from the DA back in fifth year and first year books he got from the Room. All the books had bright pink covers but the contents seemed untouched.

It helped that Tom remembered most of his first year and could re-learn a spell and master it on the first try. The program had apparently been a little bit different when he attended Hogwarts because some of his memories contained spells and potions from Harry's second year.

From that point on, Tom had free access to the bookshelves and could ask any book from the Room. Before that, it had been Harry who wished the books in and out the shelves.

Lucius and Severus were jealous and became quite impossible to handle because they wanted to spy on Tom when he was practising.

After a while, Harry accepted them in the study with Tom and him while they were practising. He occupied them by giving them potions ingredients they had to label and sort. Harry discovered he was quite adept at potions when nobody tampered with his cauldron or distracted him. He exercised with Tom and became better with Severus' help. He was already a little genius in potions, knowing most of the ingredients needed in potions for first years to third years and their different uses. Harry had given him an encyclopaedia of medicinal plants and potions ingredients some weeks ago and he appeared to have swallowed it whole.

Lucius was particularly interested when Tom was practising wand movements, spells and charms. He imitated him with a stick he had found in the garden.

Tom was brilliant at every subject. It seemed to Harry that he just knew or felt the magic so intimately he just had to think about the effect to have the incantation, or wand movement. It was quite impressive to see him at work.

He wanted to learn everything and made the perfect student, always concentrated and attentive.

To spice things up, Harry gave him assignments. He could use the books or seek help from Harry but had to do most of the work himself, as Harry only gave him clues and not the answers.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Some notes about the story are at the end of this chapter

**Day 47 – Severus and Tom, bonding time**

Severus : 8 Lucius : 9 Tom : 13

As it was a Wednesday afternoon (which was not a work day) and Lucius had grown again that Monday, Harry was cutting his hair in the bathroom. It would surely take hours because Lucy was never happy with Harry's 'talent' at cutting hair and would ask him to start again every time (and Harry did).

Tom was not studying and he had finished all his homework a while ago. He was laying in his bed, looking through his upside-down window, trying to turn the image upright in his mind as an exercise of concentration.

Tom was very bored. He didn't want to read, he didn't want to play Wizarding chess, nor gobstones. He sighed. The boy actually had no idea what he wanted to do. His mind was whirlwind most days but sometimes, everything stopped and he couldn't form a straight thought, didn't have the motivation to do anything and was bored out of his mind. He sighed quite a lot on those days.

Severus was bored too. He had finished his book on belladonna this morning and Harry was busy taking care of Lucius and couldn't help him find another book.

He heard Tom sighing, in the room across his. He knew what that meant : Tom was bored and didn't have anything to do either.

After much goading, Tom finally agreed to follow the other boy to the garden. Sev seemed to be excited and Tom wondered why until the younger one pulled him to the hedge.

A small grass snake was slithering its way from one end of the garden to the other. Its brown scales were shining when it passed in the sun. One curve in the shadows under the hedge, the next in the light.

"Where do they come from ?" asked Sev. "All those animals I mean. We're inside the castle."

"Let's ask this one" answered Tom, pointing at the snake. "I'm sure it will tell us."

Severus looked impatient. Tom switched from English to Parseltongue. Unlike Harry, who still had problems with it, Tom knew when he was speaking Parseltongue and tried to teach Harry the difference.

"Hello, beautiful one."

"Salutations, Speaker. My name is Sassa"

"Nice to meet you Sassa. My brother here would like to know where you come from, would you mind telling us ?"

Tom didn't know how to qualify Severus -and Lucius- as, other than a brother. He definitely considered him family, as in he would protect and help him if he ever needed Tom, but brother wasn't really covering all that their relationship was. He had the same problem with Harry. Harry was not their father, nor their brother, nor any word Tom knew that defined a family member.

As Tom was pondering the fact that he couldn't possibly find a name that fit, Severus was getting more impatient.

"So ? What did it say ?" he asked.

"It is a she, and is named Sassa" reported Tom. "And she says she's from the Forbidden Forest."

That seemed to surprise Sev.

"How did she end up here then ?"

Tom relayed the question to the snake.

"I was magically transported here by the Room. All the animals you see in this garden are taken from the Hogwarts Grounds. We just have to cross the garden once or twice to be transported back."

Once the boys got all the information they wanted from the snake, they let her go back to her way and went to search for Harry.

Severus was the one who thought about it : if animals could be taken from and to the Hogwarts Grounds, and people were still trying to break in their home, there was a possible loophole in their Defence.

They found Harry in the bathroom, sweeping away Lucius' loose hair with a slash of his wand, Lucius himself trying to look into the mirror to see if Harry had done it right finally. Tom and Severus were not as picky with their haircuts. Tom had slightly longer hair than Harry, and just as messy, because he kept passing his fingers through it when he was thinking, and Severus kept his hair tied back with a black ribbon at all times so he didn't really care if the cut was perfectly even or not. (Harry had learnt to cut hair while on the run with Hermione and Ron. Ron wanted to keep his short because it was more practical and Harry volunteered because the only time Ron tried to do it himself he nearly cut his own throat.)

As soon as Harry was told about the problem, he ran to the nearest bookcase and asked the Room for a book about wards. It took him a little while to find a ward against Animagi and when he did he applied it straight away.

Tom told Harry it was Sev who thought about it all, and a blushy, shy Sev told Harry it was thanks to Tom anyway, because he was the one to interrogate Sassa.

After the scare he had, Harry congratulated the two of them over their discovery and kissed them on the cheek.

Tom found he was too old to be kissed like a child like that but he never said no to a hug, and as Harry knew that, he brought him into his arms and fluffed his hair, messing it up a little bit more.

Severus got carried by Harry to the living room for tea and kissed again for good measure.

When Tom saw that Sev was a bit sullen over being carried like a log, he attacked him mercilessly with tickles, joined by Lucius in torturing the youngest.

Over their time together, Harry had taught his boys that the best way to cheer up someone was to mess with them. That lead to countless tickles and prank wars between the three young ones, and even with Harry from time to time.

**Day 58 – The Talk**

Severus : 9 Lucius : 10 Tom : 15

Harry was very embarrassed. He knew he had to have that conversation with the boys at one point. He had postponed it long enough already. Tom was 15 ! He needed that lecture.

Harry had learnt a few things here and there during his childhood with the Dursleys but only had had the complete lecture together with Ron, when he was 14, at the Burrow. To this day he still blushed every time he thought back on it. Arthur had been as red as a tomato too, though why he still was, after giving the lecture to all his children, Harry didn't know.

It was time for The Talk. Harry had managed to warn the boys the day before, after stammering and blushing heavily for a while. The three kids were in the study, waiting for him. Harry took a deep breath and entered the room.

Harry went to sit at his desk, feeling protected behind the mass of mahogany. Tom was sitting at his desk and Severus and Lucius were lounging on the couch near the library.

"Okay, began Harry, so today we're gonna have a serious discussion for once."

"We know already Harry." cut Tom, looking far more relaxed than Harry felt.

"What do you mean 'you know already' ?"

"What he means to say," intervened Lucius,"is that we remember having had The Talk already with our guardians."

Harry noted the use of 'guardians' and not 'parents'. He knew that Lucius wanted to include Tom but thought the feelings behind the idea were more of their parents not actually deserving the title. He thought about the kind of Talk their guardians would have given them, in an orphanage, with abusive parents and in a Pureblood family. Maybe not the best they could have.

"You'll have to tell me exactly what you know, all of you. I need to know if you were told enough or just the basics."

Ensued the most embarrassing talk with the boys. They knew the subject was hard on Harry and made a point to be as crude and straightforward as possible.

Apparently, Tom and Severus had a basic knowledge of how sex worked between a man and a woman and a good idea of the spells to use for contraception and birth control. They knew about masturbation and their respective guardians had told them to keep it to themselves and be ashamed of it. Lucius knew a little bit more about STDs and other sexualities, merely because his parents had told him that if he ever felt desire towards men he would have to be very discreet about his lovers in fear of tarnishing the Malfoy name.

Harry had learnt more by himself than with Mr. Weasley because he was too shy to ask about gay sex to him. He decided to teach all he knew to the three, to complete their knowledge.

He began by telling them more about STDs and how to protect themselves, so that they all knew about it . Then he began the frankly overwhelming task of explaining what he knew about all the sexual and romantic orientations he knew of.

The boys had some questions along the speech but understood easily once explained. Harry felt relieved to see that. He didn't know in detail but it was never really discussed in the war, whether the two sides were all that accepting about sexuality. He knew that Dumbledore had been gay but he didn't really knew any other leading member of any side to be anything but heterosexual.

"What about you Harry ?" asked Lucius.

Finally the dreaded question. Everything was fun and games in theory but put that in practice and a lot of people were suddenly less tolerant. He took a deep breath.

"I am gay"

It felt strange, saying it aloud. He had known very young about it but knew not to tell anyone. He saw that most of the boys in his school were chasing the girls because they liked them, and decided not to pursue his first crush as he thought it was one more thing tagging him as 'the freak'. He had learnt to accept himself after Dean and Seamus came out to the Gryffindor boys in third year. When he got sixteen he went to a club for the first time with the Weasley twins, when he grieved for Sirius. He had met a lot of people and got his first boyfriend, a Muggle named Christopher. It was safe to say that in his two years being sexually active he had quite the experience. He had managed to keep it silent for now by binding his lovers to keep quiet. They didn't have a problem with that usually as Harry only went out with correct people. He never outright told anyone before.

He was quite apprehensive as to their reactions but Tom only nodded, like it was something he expected, while Lucius went gasping like a fish out of water and Severus merely said "Okay".

After reassuring the three of them that they didn't have to tell him anything if they didn't want to and that he would love them no matter what, Harry left them to go prepare the lunch.

He would not rush them into labeling themselves, they had to think about it. And anyway, Luc and Sev had only come into the beginning of the questioning age. If they already knew, he would accept it and if they were unsure he would leave them space to think about it.

**Day 63 – Lucius' wand and beginning of magical studies**

Severus : 9 Lucius : 11 Tom : 16

Lucius was very excited to finally be able to use magic on his own, even if he tried to mask it. He had his memories from his first year but he wanted to use this opportunity to better himself. He had always been proficient in charms and potions but he had difficulties with transfiguration and herbology.

He knew he could get better especially with Harry explaining things his way. He had overheard him giving tips to Tom, and Harry had had a completely different approach from the one used in the books. At least that was what Tom had told him.

He knew Severus would be a great help in herbology when he would get his memories from first year. He already taught him things about the plants in the garden.

Lucius got his wand back and felt the familiar trickle of warmth up his arm.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry !" said Harry in a singsong voice.

"We live in Hogwarts, Harry." objected Tom even if a corner of his mouth was threatening to curl into a smirk.

"You know what I meant Tom." he pouted "Now he really is a part of it !"

From this point on, Lucius could access the book shelves on his own to ask the Room whichever book took his fancy.

He knew that Harry was a genius in DADA and better than average in transfiguration (and now potions thanks to Sev) and that Tom was generally perfect in everything once he made an effort. He was sure he would be the best at charms, even better than Tom.

It would not do to be jealous but a little bit of competition never hurt anyone. Besides, he wanted Harry to congratulate him like he did Tom, when Tom did something spectacular or perfected a spell in one attempt.

Severus was impatient. So impatient that Harry had to keep him occupied while his 'brothers' were working. He had read about most first year to fourth year potions and knew almost all the ingredients used in Hogwarts. When he became too agitated, Harry led him to the kitchen and let him cook under his supervision. He was happy to train in shredding, cutting, dicing and all other manners of delicately separate two layers of any ingredient. He was nearly better a cook than Harry, and that was saying something.

**Day 68 – Tom is an adult (make out session with Harry) **

Severus : 10 Lucius : 11 Tom : 17

Tom was ready. He had waited to be sure of himself and so that Harry would not shoot him down because of his age. After the Talk, he had reviewed his memories in the Pensieve in the study. He had tried to see if he was attracted to someone during his first teenage period.

What he had found was interesting. He had seemed not to understand his peers when it came to sex and their subsequent desire to have it as fast and as much as possible. There were many Contracts in his time, witches and wizards promised to each other, but that did not stop them from sleeping around more or less discreetly.

He had had thought about it and had concluded that sex was not interesting to him and was actually relieved because he could concentrate on his more pressant aims. According to that, he thought he could possibly be asexual.

There was one thing, though, that broke this hypothesis : his current attraction to Harry. He wanted him, like he had never wanted another before. He was confused as he had been surrounded by aesthetically pleasing men before and hadn't had an ounce of desire for them. The only difference was that he cared about Harry and that Harry cared for him. He could maybe call it love in the privacy of his mind. He remembered his 'previous life' and knew that he hadn't had been that close to anyone emotionally before.

After he concluded that he was demisexual, he decided to do something about his crush. He was determined to confess his interest to Harry. Thad had been 10 days ago. He thought he had waited enough. (He wouldn't admit to himself that he was nervous and wanted to be rid of his insecurities as soon as possible)

He had waited for his 'brothers' to have gone to sleep and crept up to the living room, where Harry was reading a Muggle novel in front of the fireplace. The magical fire was casting flecks of light on his skin and gave an ethereal glint to his green eyes. Tom cleared his throat to catch his attention.

"Tom ! What are you doing up so late ?"

Harry had a worried look on his face. He closed his book after putting a pressed flower in between the pages, and got up. Tom loved that since his latest growth spurt he was taller than Harry by a few centimetres. Harry had to lift his eyes a little to reach his.

"Did you have a nightmare ?" questioned Harry, still concerned.

The boys had had a lot of nightmares after the first few sets of memories came back to them. Now, every time the got a new flow of memories they talked with each other to settle them down. It had prevented a lot of nightmares but Sev and Luc still had some more often that not. Tom was able to hide his distress when he got a -rare- one, and hadn't suffered a really disturbing one in weeks.

"I am well, Harry, I just wanted to discuss something with you" replied Tom, calming the other man down " without the two pests listening to the doors."

He approached Harry slowly and took his hand. Harry was very attached to physical contact to communicate, reassure and ground and had passed that on to the boys. They all hugged and cuddled each other, even if some (Sev and Harry) were more cuddly than others (Tom and Lucy).

He rubbed his thumb over Harry's knuckles in a soothing motion and took a fortifying breath.

"I wanted to speak about what I discovered for myself after 'The Talk' that you gave us the other day." Harry gave him a smile to get him to continue. "I want to talk with Harry, the person and not Harry, my guardian, if that is possible ?"

Harry looked puzzled but nodded is assent.

"I have feelings for you. I have had feelings for you since I turned 13 and I realised I wanted to hold you in my arms and never let go." He paused, closing Harry's mouth with a finger, for it had opened in a gasp of surprise. "I also want you. This a more recent development but it is true." Tom slid his fingers along Harry's cheek in a slow caress. "I consider myself to be demisexual." He paused again, the rest was very revealing. "You are the first person I feel that way about."

He continued caressing Harry's face and rub his thumb across his knuckles while waiting for a reaction. He didn't want to rush him but was getting more nervous by the second.

Harry was shocked. He loved the boys but had noticed a while back that his feelings were changing along with their growth. He had guiltily dispersed thoughts about Tom when they turned to a more romantic (first) or carnal (more recently) approach to their relationship. He knew he had more than admiration for their adult selves but hadn't predicted falling for any of them while they were still so young.

He was actually relieved that his feelings were returned and that Tom was brave enough to tell him outright as Harry himself -a Gryffindor !- hadn't had the courage to do so. He wanted to say so but couldn't find the words. Tom was still waiting, continuing his calming gestures. Hope was written clearly in his blue eyes. It was the most vulnerable he had seen him since the night of the Battle. As his words were failing him, he decided to make his message clear in another way.

Tom had grown taller than him but not enough that he had to stand on his toes to face him completely. He brought the hand not clasped in Tom's to come to rest on the other's cheek, in a perfect mirror pose. He saw the relief and hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Tom looked deep in his eyes to try and gauge his reaction and, when Harry answered with a smile, he brought their faces closer. Harry could feel his breath on his face, his heartbeat peaking in the skin of his wrist and the love in his eyes. His own breath stopped for a moment when Tom's focus alternated between his eyes and his lips.

A log cracked in the magical fire, breaking the intense focus. All of a sudden the calm flew the room and Harry felt rushed to taste Tom's lips, an immediate need...

Tom beat him to it, catching his lips in a tender kiss. Harry's eyes fluttered shut and Tom couldn't keep his open anymore. He surrendered to the kiss and focused on the feeling of Harry's lips on his own. It was not how he had imagined it but it was more real. Harry's lips were chapped and he had a bit of stubble that made for a very interesting sensation on his fingers and mouth. The kiss in itself was the perfect combination of new, exalting and sweet.

They separated after a while, gasping, trying to calm down their hearts. But they couldn't stay apart for long and soon they got back to it, never lasting more than a few seconds between each kiss. After a while they relocated to the sofa, getting more comfortable. They sat side by side, twisted so that their hands could stay joined, legs tangled together. Tom, with a hand in Harry's hair and Harry's hand gripping the back of his shirt.

The night saw many more kisses and cuddles, and after they got their breath back, they settled laying on the couch and fell asleep.

**Day 74 – Severus' wand and beginning of magical studies**

Severus : 11 Lucius : 12 Tom : 18

Severus was ecstatic. This morning he finally got to have his wand back . He had waited (some would say he didn't but let's not take their opinion into account) and now he could really begin his life as a wizard. He would pass all his time in the potion's lab, surely. He already itched to go there and brew. He had perfected his knowledge of the most common potions ingredients, had practiced his cutting techniques while cooking with Harry and with his memories of his first year, he felt confident he could brew even Fifth Year potions adequately.

He was also very excited to learn more about his second favorite subject : Defense. Harry had told him that he was a master at duelling and had the memories in the Pensieve to match it but it hadn't really grasped his interest until he got his memories from his First Year lessons. He wanted to perfect all his different skills and was very enthusiastic at the prospect of learning even more.

Harry had asked for his help in potions as he never really got it from his time at Hogwarts and he was really proud that he could help him.

He thought he could be less than stellar at astronomy and transfiguration, but with Lucius' help he would surely get by.

As for his memories, he prefered not to think about his first year at Hogwarts as very little of it was pleasant. He remembered vaguely a muggleborn with clear green eyes who had perhaps been friends with him, but couldn't protect him from the disdain from his housemates and the pure hate from a couple of Gryffindors.

Tom had finished his seven years of normal education and was in the process of choosing a specialisation after Harry pushed him to. For now he was just reading several books at once about vampires, trying to get the trustworthy information from the lies spun to scare people. He seemed interested in their immortal status and tried to get the more details possible.

**Day 80 – Lucius and Tom, bonding time**

Severus : 11 Lucius : 12 Tom : 19

Slytherins were all about revenge. But they were also all about cunning and so Tom's and Lucius' revenge would be the most intricate and devastating plan to ever see the light.

Severus had done something unforgivable, something so vile and revolting that Lucius wondered how such a -sweetheart- could even think of it. You see, that horrible and terrifying deed was that he got sick. But that was not the problem in itself, no ! It was even worse : He had taken Harry all for himself for entire -days- !

Severus got sick, wouldn't stop sneezing and coughing, even with all the remedies Harry found. He was exempted from studying and confined to bed. Harry devoted all his time to find a cure and care for him, leaving Tom and Lucius to fend for themselves, deprived of the usual affection and love they were showered with. Severus had even begun smirking at them when they passed before his door, completely unrepentant.

Such cruelty could not stay unpunished !

The plan was simple and discreet, perfect. Harry would never see anything different from usual but Sev would take it as the revenge it was. It was simply a masterpiece.

The first phase of the plan had Luc and Tom scouring healing texts and potions indexes, searching for a cure to the resistant brand of cold Sev caught. They did not tell Harry they were searching as he would discourage them, ask them to find something better to do with their time, not to worry, because 'he had everything covered'.

They found a medical journal under a stack of books Harry had discarded as he had already read them. Harry got so worried that he had missed that thin book. It was about the Nasty Cold (it was a very old treaty and such designations were taken seriously at the time), a rare case of common cold turned durable for causes unknown. It was mainly extinct now because wizards and witches had invented long-term warming charms and the Pepper-Up potion. It would be cured by a simple Warmth Philter, a much stronger cousin of the Pepper-Up.

The fact that Sev had caught it even with Harry's meticulous care was proof enough that he had done it on purpose. The only way he could have caught was that he had been wandering in the garden at night, all night, probably reading books by the light of a Lumos, only dressed in a light shirt and some shorts. The garden got really cold at night, even if it was presently summer, staying there all night was bound to get someone sick even if they were properly clothed.

Lucius brewed the potion under Tom's supervision, to improve his brewing skills. Tom had taught Lucius and Severus to take advantage of every occasion to get better. (It was a Fourth Year potion but Severus could already brew it and Lucius was actually just learning the properties of different kind of Pepper-Up and could use the training.)

When the potion was done, two hours later, they went and gave it to Harry, all angelic faces and innocent smiles.

Full of relief after their explanation, Harry administered the potion to a frowning Severus. The effect was instantaneous but left the patient tired and slightly warmer than average for hours.

Harry was the one who looked exhausted, though, and went to fix himself a cup of tea to calm down.

Phase two could commence.

It consisted in taking the utmost care of Harry now that he could leave Sev's side and give Severus a taste of his own medicine as Harry would be in Tom's and Lucius' clutches.

They began by giving him the softest spot on the couch, surrounded by cushions, and bringing him his cup of tea (lemon tea with a dash of honey).

Lucius sat on his left side and began to sing. His singing voice was like a mermaid's, enchanting and innately magical.

Harry was the one who had taught him. He used to sing to them when they got nightmares or were being difficult. Lucius knew that it was relaxing to him.

Harry was surprised but soon joined him as it was a song he knew.

Tom sat on his right side and brought his hand to Harry's nape, playing with the short hair.

When Harry finished his cup, he took it from him and levitated it to the kitchen. He then resumed his movement.

Lucius cuddled to his left side and Tom began using his two hands to lightly massage at Harry's skull.

Harry all but melted under his care and Tom smirked at Lucius. Victory.

When Harry got really relaxed, he could spend hours cuddling on the sofa and was generally much more affectionate the following days.

The plan was a success, Harry would be stuck to them all day today and would shower them with hugs and kisses for the rest of the week.

Severus, stuck in his bed to recuperate (because Harry was a mother hen) probably for the rest of the week also, would be fuming.

Tom would remind himself tomorrow to kiss Harry in front of him to make him pay.

Clarification : This story is an Au - Canon Divergence, most of the events are the same but some details change (Severus is not a spy for the Light, he is on the Dark side, Harry helped the Dark side but is on the Light side himself because he would be killed otherwise...). Most of it will be explained in later chapters.

The story is cross-posted on AO3 at /works/3856162

I am sooo very sorry for the wait. I have no reasonable explanation. Just... Sorry.3


	3. Chapter 3

**There are some notes at the end of this chapter**

**Day 84 - It's the time**

**Severus : 11 Lucius : 13 Tom : 20**

Harry had noticed a strange behaviour in Tom. He kept touching Harry all through the day for no reason. Tom was not the most cuddly person and his attitude was strange. Most of the time they kept their more intimate touching to private areas, like the living room after the younger boys went to sleep or the bedroom for the more adventurous cuddling. Even now, while Harry was cooking dinner, the curious touching continued. Tom was setting the table and using every excuse to touch Harry. He stood directly behind Harry, stretched and bended forwards to reach the plates. He planted a hand on Harry's back when he passed around him. He brushed incessantly against him when he moved. When Tom was finished with setting the table, he trapped Harry in his arms and pushed his face into Harry's neck. Harry was still stirring the pasta but he let his head fall sideways on Tom's. He was driving Harry mad.

Harry didn't want to say anything about for fear that Tom would stop it. He quite liked the constant affection, even if the reason why it was happening still evaded him. So he kept quiet and basked in the warmth of Tom's hands on his shoulders and the brush of his fingers down his arms.

At the dinner table, Tom stopped touching Harry altogether. Harry was confused and the sudden change left him bereft. He wanted Tom to brush his leg with his, to let his knee push his and to find his pinky finger entwined with his.

He focused on eating and asked Lucius and Severus about their reading and homework. The dinner was nice and, just when he had grown used to the loss of touch, Harry felt Tom's hand on his knee. He nearly jumped in surprise but managed to control himself. Tom's thumb was brushing his leg in a soothing circular motion and Harry relaxed. He glanced at Tom but the man was eating calmly, not letting his face show any emotion. Harry was getting more and more puzzled by his behavior.

By the end of the meal, Tom's hand had climbed up Harry's thigh and Harry was feeling a little bit warmer. He decided to confront Tom because his hot and cold attitude was beginning to make him go crazy.

Lucius and Severus had went to their rooms to get some leisure time before bed so Harry and Tom were free to talk.

"What is going on Tom ?" Harry was seating on the couch and looking at Tom who was standing by the fireplace.

"What do you mean ?" Tom answered.

"You kept touching me and then stopping for no reason, again and again all day long. What is going on ?"

Tom sighed audibly and turned towards Harry. He looked annoyed and began pacing up and down the length of the sofa.

"I don't know how to do it !" he finally admitted, and Harry could see how much that admission cost him.

Harry was even more confused.

"I tried going the subtle way but either I don't know how to do it or you didn't understand." He went to stand right before Harry and took a deep breath. "I want to have sex with you. Is that clear enough ?"

Now Harry understood. All of the touching and fidgeting was an attempt at seduction. Well, it was clumsy and had done nothing but drive him mad. But it was kinda cute. Harry smirked. He should really not mock Tom or he would never try anything like that again. And what a loss that would be. With a little more experience, Tom could be dangerously good at this game.

Now, focus. He had to reassure Tom and keep him from hiding. Tom already had his arms crossed on his chest and was looking at Harry with a frown. He would flee with apparent anger and real hurt feelings soon if Harry didn't do anything.

Harry stood, just a few inches away from Tom, he was still smiling. He uncrossed Tom's arms and took his hands in his own. He softly kissed Tom's knuckles before letting Tom's arms fall to his sides.

"I'm sorry I didn't understand, Tom." he said while brushing his fingers up Tom's arms. He settled his arms on each side of Tom's neck and brought his face close to Tom's. "I was not expecting it and i was preoccupied." He pressed his front to Tom's and slid his fingers in Tom's hair. "Please forgive me."

At that point, all Tom could do was remember to breathe. They had been intimate before but Tom was always the initiator of their time together. Seeing Harry seduce him was a new experience and a frankly welcome one. Tom knew that Harry only wanted to give him time and move at his pace, but the waiting was slowly eating at him. His desire for Harry only grew and he had little outlet for it.

"I will forgive you this time, Harry, but I might be less lenient in the future," he answered when he'd recovered.

"Now, maybe we should relocate, don't you think ?"

Harry gave him a wide smile and they moved to his bedroom.

Harry's room was on the opposite from the boys' bedrooms. It was bigger and had the benefits of having a king sized bed and better locking wards. Tom and Harry had been sleeping together in here most of the nights for some time.

As soon as they entered the room, Harry was kissing Tom passionately. His hands were grasping at Tom's hair and his shirt. Tom was gripping Harry's hips close to his, all but trying to merge together. The kisses were getting more heated and both men had trouble breathing correctly. They were grinding into each other's thighs and tugging at their shirts, but both were unwilling to part to get rid of them.

After a little while, Harry managed to open Tom's shirt's buttons and began to explore Tom's chest with his fingers all the while continuing to abuse Tom's lips with his own.

Tom was not idle and had one hand trying to open Harry's jeans and the other grabbing at his arse to keep him close.

They managed to part for a moment, catching their breath. Harry took off his t-shirt and opened his jeans, licking his lips. Tom got rid of his shirt and his trousers, leaving him only in his boxers. He pulled Harry to him by his jean's belt loops and caught his lips into a kiss. He put his hands on Harry's arse inside his jeans and brought their crotch together.

"You need to stop looking at me with those eyes, babe, or I won't last long" said Tom directly in Harry's ear.

Harry shivered at the sultry tone and let his head fall on Tom's shoulder with a moan. "You need to stop being so damn sexy then, darling."

He let Tom get him out of his jeans and guided him to the bed. He laid back on the pillows and Toms climbed on the bed, leaning over him.

Tom was at a loss. They had done more or less what they did usually but he didn't know how to take it to the next level. He wasn't going to ask Harry, that was for sure, but he also wouldn't act without knowing, for fear of making a fool of himself.

Harry noticed the frowning of Tom's eyebrows and understood the problem. But Tom would not take kindly to being told what to do. So the only only solution...

Tom was so focused on his internal musings that he startled when Harry's hand fell on his shoulder. He let himself be manhandled and found himself laying down on the bed with Harry sitting on his thighs, taking support on his hands on each side of Tom's head.

"Tom, there is no shame in being inexperienced." Harry told him softly, slowly grinding on his cock. "This is your first time, so tonight I'm taking care of you, darling."

Tom tried to protest, just for appearances, but soon gave up when Harry shut him up with his tongue.

Harry got rid of their underwear swiftly and grabbed a vial of lube from the bedside table.

"Now, that doesn't mean that you're just gonna lay there." He poured some lube on Tom's fingers and guided them to his backside. "I trust you know the theory, I've seen you study those books."

"I don't want to hurt you." Tom sounded hesitant, even if he did what he was asked. He tried to remember what he read but his concentration was dwindling as Harry was sucking hickeys on his throat and jerking their cocks together.

"Don't worry, darling, I'm sure you won't."

Tom managed to finger Harry open but he had to stop from time to time to just calm down a little, for fear of coming much too soon. What Harry was doing should be illegal. Tom could barely imagine what it would feel like to finally be inside him.

After what felt like an eternity of pleasure given and received, Harry was panting, his rim stretched over three fingers and his cock drooling pre-cum.

Tom let his fingers out of him and caressed his face with his other hand.

"Ready babe ?" He was out of breath and sweaty and was dying to finally get release.

Harry was reduced to moaning and chocking out Tom's name, but he managed to nod. He took some time to calm down a little before situating himself atop Tom.

Tom took himself in his hand and reached behind Harry with his other hand, guiding himself into position. He stopped and gave Harry a look, making sure that Harry was onboard with this.

"Come on darling, I'm dying waiting for you." Harry breathed. His smile was intoxicating and Tom wanted to declaim poetry to his debauched beauty. His black hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, his green eyes glassy with pleasure and his lips were a bloody red after being bitten so much. Tom figured he looked pretty similar, maybe even more flushed as his skin was fairer than Harry's.

He pushed inside and gasped at the feeling of such heat and tightness so suddenly around the tip of his dick. Harry batted his hands away and took control of the situation, moving slowly down, pausing at times to let himself accommodate, until he was completely seated in Tom's lap.

Tom was lost in his sensations and could do little but let Harry drive them both towards their climax. Harry was taking support on Tom's shoulders and his thighs were trembling with the strain of having to move his body up and down. He managed to set a pace that had him moaning on the down move and Tom groaning on the up move.

Tom tried to help Harry along with his hands on Harry's buttocks, but ended up pressing him down faster and faster. They were both incoherent by that point and none of the sounds passing their lips could qualify as words or even names.

Harry knew Tom couldn't last much more and did his utmost to make him give out some more of his delicious moans before finishing. When he came, it was almost silent, his mouth open in a soundless gasp, his fingers digging in Harry's arse.

Harry couldn't resist touching himself at such a view and came seconds later.

After some time passed trying to calm their heartbeats, Tom cleaned them off with wandless magic and they settled in their usual sleeping position, Harry on his side and Tom spooning him from behind.

Tom couldn't stop kissing Harry's nape and tracing soft shapes on his belly.

"I might have to keep you in here forever, babe." Tom said after a while.

"You're the one who should stay hidden Tom, have you seen the state of your neck ? You look positively wild, and the sex hair does nothing to help." Harry let his fingers pass through Tom's midnight locks. "I might have gone a bit overboard."

"I liked it." Tom answered simply.

They settled down for the night, content. They would wake up like that, legs entwined and Tom's nose in Harry's hair, naked as the day they were born, for countless nights after this one.

**Day 91 - Harry is 18**

**Severus : 12 Lucius : 14 Tom : 21**

That morning was quite similar to all the others before it. Harry woke up next to Tom, cuddled up to him. He managed to get up without waking him. He had seen Tom studying some old texts late last night and was already sleeping when Tom had come to bed. He needed the sleep. He went to wake Severus and Lucius, with a caress on their cheek and a kiss on their forehead. He then began to prepare breakfast : toast, jam and eggs and bacon. Most of his routine was subconscious by now.

But this morning, when Harry gave a look to the calendar on the kitchen's wall, he saw that it was July 31st. He was 18 years old today.

As far as he could remember he had always been anticipating his birthdays, always waiting for the clock to strike midnight, and even more in the last few years. He had completely lost track of time in the Room of Requirement. He was so focused on the boys' growth that he had forgotten that time had not frozen for him.

Now that he thought about it, he had nearly left all of his current life behind when he had rescued the boys. He very rarely even thought about the outside world. What could his friends and enemies be doing right now out of these walls ? He knew that whoever had been banging on the outside of the Room had stopped long ago. Had they lost hope to break in or were they just biding their time ? School would resume in a month's time, but the castle had been badly damaged during the Battle. There would be people reconstructing it, organising another school year.

And what about the Dark Side ? without their leader and their leader's most trusted they were surely back to pretending not to be Dark, claiming to have been Imperiused or straight up fleeing the country. Maybe Harry's most trusted were taking care of them. They had after all claimed to be on the Dark Side and wanting to make things change. He knew that the Weasley twins were most likely still driving the Order of the Phoenix mad with their antics and with their secret sabotaging of any of their plans. The Lovegoods -Luna and her father Xenophilius- were subtly educating the masses with their crazy magazine. And Neville, well, he had what it took to be a leader, maybe he was the one keeping the Death Eaters in line.

As much as the twins always called Harry their little brother, it was Neville whom Harry was closest to. They had similar backgrounds and similar hopes and dreams for the Magical World. Neville was one of the firsts to join Harry on his Hogwarts-based not-so-quite-Grey-Side.

The night of the Battle of Hogwarts, he had sent his people a message, telling them he would be protecting the Dark Lord and his right-hand men until they could retake their place, just before he had finalised the wards on the Room of Requirement.

Neville knew him, he was most likely keeping things in order and even making progress on their mission. However, Harry was more worried about the others' well-being than their advancement for the cause.

Harry could not send or receive any message until the Room was finally completely repaired or he risked having it intercepted by the Light Side. Thankfully, the Room was repairing itself quite rapidly and they surely could communicate with the outside world before the boys had finished growing back to their original age. He would then enquire at the state of things and provide help if necessary.

With those thoughts in mind, he finalised the breakfast table and got to wake Tom up. Tom knew most of the broad lines of how Harry had helped his side during the war. Harry was quite reticent to give him names, until he knew how they were faring and how Tom remembered them. Most of them were undercover in Light Side families or organisations and he would not risk their safety.

**Day 97 - Studying the dark arts **

**Severus : 13 Lucius : 14 Tom : 22**

Tom had been secretly studying Dark magic for a while now. His thirst of knowledge had took him to reading and learning more and more Dark tomes, but for some reason, he was not comfortable doing so in broad daylight. It must have to do with it being so controversial in the outside world. He had for habit to hide his fascination with all things darker than pure Light, or risk being thrown to Azkaban.

So it was a common thing that he was here studying, by the light of a candle, in the middle of the night. What was less common was Harry coming to keep him company. Tom was sure that Harry was worried about him. After all, Harry was used to taking care of him and his sleep schedule was becoming all the more erratic these last weeks. Tom had found a completely new collection of Dark spell books and had a hard time abandoning their study to waste time on something so trivial as sleep.

Tom was reading and taking notes on the large desk in the office when Harry came in looking quite adorable in his underwear and a big sweater of Tom's. Tom was fairly used to the sight as it was Harry's usual sleepwear. These last weeks his looks were completed with some half-faded hickeys on th side of his neck and the top of his chest. He kissed Tom's cheek and went to sit in a big armchair next to the bookcase, facing the desk.

They both concentrated on their reading, the second tome of his series for Tom and a magazine for Harry. When Tom was finished with that opus he went to switch it for the next one in the collection in the bookshelf just behind Harry.

"The Moste Darkest of Magick, volume III." Harry read, "The author made a mistake I think, that's a double superlative."

He yawned, and went back to his latest issue of The Quibbler. He appeared to be reading an article about Nargles but he seemed to be skipping some lines and getting back to them afterwards.

"The form is not perfect but the content is quite interesting." Tom paused. "Are you not going to stop me from reading it ? I seem to remember you telling me you were the Savior of the Light Side." He asked Harry.

"I also told you that was a mask for my protection, and that I was really supporting your side. You are the Dark Lord Tom, I'm really not going to stop you from studying Dark magic." He was smiling a little. "And anyway, since when do you obey me ? It's been a while since you saw me as an authority figure. You are more than free to do what you like."

"Oh I know that, but you could always object. And give me a lesson." Tom answered.

"Is that what you were expecting ? I know what Dark magic is about Tom. And I know quite a bit of it, though i may lack practise." Harry countered. "There is just one thing I wanted to ask you. What were you real goals when you began as a Dark Lord ? Your aims have surely been misunderstood or altered because what the Light Side teaches its minions is irrational and pretty unlikely."

"What lies are they spreading now ?" Tom enquired, curious, "And how would you know about my legitimate goals if you have been fed those lies ?"

"Well I don't think you would pursue a world of blood purity and massacre of much needed new blood. They tell everyone that you murder Muggleborns by thousands. As you are a Halfblood, I must believe it to be false. Blood purity was at most a tool to gain Pureblood followers."

"And that's all ? That's my goal ? Killing people and what, tyrannising the remaining ?" Tom seemed genuinely shocked to hear that. "And they believe that ? I'm not some fairytale villain ! There is no interest in doing that."

"Well, the propaganda worked. The Light Side sees you as some sort of bloodthirsty demon with no further desires than the death of most Magical Britain." Harry mused. "As for me, I was shown some interesting memories of yours during your first youth. Let's just say it was clear you were not as dim as the legends made you appear to be. I was told that you want to take better care of the Muggleborns and Halfbloods who are living in the muggle world. Considering your childhood as well as mine and Severus' that seems quite logical. I also know you want to reinstate magical traditions like Yule, Samhain and the Beltane fires." He counted the items off his fingers. "I also read about the weakening of Pureblood children and the need for new blood and land-wide fortifying rituals that were deemed too dark and prohibited. Oh, and there's also the will to protect our world from the muggles in a more progressive and appropriate way. Is that correct ?"

"Quite correct. Well with all this corruption of my ideals, no wonder my followers are so keen on raiding muggle villages. As soon as I'm out of here, I will end this campaign of misinformation." Tom said, grimly. He would have to remember to ask Harry about those memories and how he got access to them.

"Oh don't worry about it, it's already began. My friend has contacts in press and their articles are very educational. Do you want to see ?" Harry picked up his issue of The Quibbler and handed it to Tom. "It's written in code and backed by a nice puzzling charm. Most people will understand it all after they've finished reading the entire article, but those resistant to mind control, by nature or exercise, have to decipher it themselves." He showed Tom how to read it. "Every time they mention Nargles, they're talking about Death Eaters and you. And the Wrackspurts are the members of the Order and Dumbledore. They also talk about the ministry and the Minister under the name of Heliopaths. It's all pretty clever."

"Very clever indeed," Tom muttered, "How do they know all of that ?"

"Some of it comes from me and my allies inside the Order and the Ministry. Also, some low-level Death Eaters talk a lot when they are drunk, good thing they don't know much. Is it all truth or can you see some mistakes ? We send 'fan mail' to correct the articles."

"It is pretty close to the truth, which is remarkable considering how you got the information. This is amazingly good work Harry ! I know you told us that you were fighting for our side, but this is more than what I expected."

"I aim to please, My Lord." Harry said with a cheeky smirk and a wink.

Oh, that was getting the Dark Lord very interested. Such a powerful and intelligent wizard, willing to call him 'Lord' without a trace of restraint. "And you pleas me well indeed, babe."

**Day 100 - Lucius and Severus**

**Severus : 13 Lucius : 15 Tom : 23**

Unbeknownst to Tom and Harry, Severus and Lucius had taken to sleep in the same bed. They had begun out of a kind of rebellion spirit when they were littler. They loved cuddling in their sleep and when they had got their separate bedrooms they often slipped into one another's beds. The sneakiness pleased them, even if they mainly got away with it because Tom and Harry got to sleep later, and more recently, together. Harry only woke them up himself on the weekends, on weekdays they were expected to set up an alarm and wake up on time for breakfast. Harry said it was to teach them responsibility.

Even then, they sneaked around and slept together more often than not.

Most of the time they slept face to face on their sides, legs entangled and breath mingled. The closeness was soothing and they woke up smiling at the presence of the other.

Some other times, Lucius scooted behind Severus and spooned him. This happened mainly when one of them had a nightmare or a rough day. But it was beginning to become their most favored sleeping position.

This is how they woke up this morning. But one thing differed from the usual. Lucius had a hard-on. This in itself was not a novelty. They both were teenage boys, hard-ons were a fact on life. But they had never been spooning when this happened.

Severus woke up pleasantly cocooned in Lucius' arms when his sleep addled mind noticed some hardness at the small of his back. He stiffened. Turned to see Lucius' surprised face. Hum. So it was what Sev had thought it was. Lucius was beginning to panic. And that was fairly entertaining to see, so Severus did his best to keep a straight face.

"Sev, um, good morning ? I'm sorry. I... I'm sorry ?" Lucius was obviously uncomfortable, and beginning to blush.

"You're sorry. About what ?" Sev decided to play dumb.

"Well, this, um, situation. You know... um, this." He said, pointing to the visible tent in his sleep pants.

"Oh, you were referring to your erection." Severus said in a deadpan voice. "You know I have some too, it's quite normal. Stop fidgeting, it's infuriating. Now, while it is really flattering, we have to go to breakfast in less than ten minutes, so if you could let go of me ?" He got out of Lucius' frozen arms and began to get dressed.

"How are you not freaked out ?" Lucius asked in a still shaken tone.

"As I said, it's normal to have an erection at our ages, don't you remember Harry telling us about it ? And I think it's even more likely to happen when in close contact with someone."

"No, Sev, not that part. I mean I understand that part pretty well. I just thought you were -how to say this- well i know you were interested in that Evans girl, I remember it. I thought you would freak out because I'm very much male." Luc explained.

"Luc, you're an idiot." Sev said, and then, talking over Lucius' attempt at a reply, "I was not interested in her, she was my friend. Did you ever wonder why I was spending so much time with you when you made it clear you had no interest in being my friend or anything else ?"

"You were still too close to her." Lucius returned. "And what do you mean by that ?"

"If you can't understand by yourself it clearly means it's not welcome, so don't bother torturing yourself over it !" And with that Severus slipped out of the room.

In contrary to what Severus had told him, Lucius tortured himself over it all day. He only understood the meaning of Sev's cryptic sentence after seeing Tom and Harry interact in the study. Tom was reading all the issues of The Quibbler he could find and Harry kept bothering him to get him to eat grapes. Harry always said that snacking was mandatory while reading.

He was trying to feed Tom grapes and the older man let him from time to time. Every time that happened, Harry had a loving smile on his lips. Which made Lucius think about Sev's smile every time he had Lucius' attention. It was a near identical one. And it clicked: Severus was interested in him. That explained so many things.

And considering what he had said this morning, Severus had been interested in him since their first youth together. He wondered if their adult selves had been together. Harry hadn't said anything about it, but he couldn't know everything, and surely not something so personal. He would have to wait for his older self's memories.

He considered telling Sev he understood immediately but thought it was a more private conversation and decided to wait for the night.

That night, he slipped into Severus' room quietly and came to sit on the bed.

"I would like to sleep alone this night if that's not too much of a nuisance." Came Sev' voice from within the covers.

Lucius knew that Severus reverted to too-polite language when he was scared or angry. "I understand what you said this morning." He told him in a clear voice.

"Don't lie just to cuddle me, you have pillows, use them." Sev's tone was getting sharper.

"I'm not lying. I know I was an idiot, I just never saw it for what it was, your interest." Lucius said quickly. "And I want you to know that it's requited. Maybe not when we first went to Hogwarts, but now it certainly is."

"I thought you were straight." Severus came out from under the covers, fixing Luc with a frown on his face.

"Bisexual. But I know why you thought that. My interest in men was clearly prohibited, because as a Malfoy Heir I had to marry and produce an Heir. So I was free to show my interest in the ladies but banned from even looking at a bloke. Here, I am much more free."

"And you were always in company of that horrible Black girl, the one who terrified everyone in your year. What did she do to warrant such a reaction, by the way ?" Severus asked him.

"Ah, Narcissa. Apparently she became my wife, Harry even said I had a child with her, a little boy. I want to remember him so much. And you don't want to know. She was terrifying, Sev, but then that was to be expected of a Black." He continued. "I didn't want to freak you out, Sev, so I didn't say anything. But I really am interested."

"So what do we do now ?" Severus was looking at his lips quite intently.

"I wonder..." He answered.

His own eyes couldn't leave Sev's lips. He leaned over him and took his jaw in his fingers. Severus licked his lips. Lucius gave a little gasp. Sev's pink mouth was entrancing. Severus rose up and planted a kiss on Lucius' lips. When they separated they were smiling.

The next kiss was longer and the next even longer. Lucius was playing with Severus' hair and licking at the seam of his lips. When granted entrance he all but devoured his mouth, forgetting to breathe for a while. Sev had to tear himself away before passing out. After a time they lost track of how many kisses they had exchanged and how long they had been caressing.

They went to sleep that night with red kissed lips and linked fingers between them.

**Day 111 - Discussion about blood purity**

**Severus : 14 Lucius : 16 Tom : 25**

Tom was brewing a new batch of Pepper-Up potions in the potions lab when Severus stomped in. He was clearly upset and his frown and clenched jaw made him look more like his older self than usual. Tom remembered watching Harry's memories of all three of them in the Pensieve. Severus' appearance had surprised him, he was marked with frown lines that did not match with little Severus' shy but happy expression. He was obviously shocked by his own appearance but knew that in his quest of power, looks were secondary.

Severus was not crying, so Tom ruled out the physical injury possibility. He looked angry and that was pretty rare. He came close to Tom and hugged his middle. Tom put his work in a stasis charm and led Sev to a nearby bench.

"What's got you so angry, sweetheart ?" He asked the boy in his lap. They had never outgrown Harry's pet names and used them for each other in addition of nicknames.

"Luc's being an asshole." Severus answered, his face pressed to the side of Tom's neck. "He is so full of shit. I came to you before I gave in and blasted his arse."

Severus was almost too careful with how he expressed himself. Such colourful language only appeared when he was very upset. "What has the idiot done now ?" Tom asked. "Is he still going on about how your hair is girly but his is lordly ? Tell him that the amount of product he uses doesn't make him a better lord and your haircut is actually closer to the traditional than his. No lord would go out with his hair slicked back in my time !"

Severus laughed a little. "No he gave up that argument when I told him to shut up or get an 'accidental hair cut'" He smirked with Tom. "He told me I was lucky to have him as a boyfriend as I wouldn't amount to anything in the Wizarding World without a Pureblood helping me along." His somber mood returned.

"What ?" Tom exclaimed. "This little worm. I'll tell him right, sweetheart, don't worry. Why would he spew such shit ?"

"I think he was jealous and frustrated because I'm more advanced at Potions as he is with his Charms study. Harry said I was nearly ready to begin Master level potions and that for a reward I could experiment in the lab whenever I wanted."

"Congratulations, Sev ! I know you worked hard to get this." Tom kissed his temple and took his hand to lead him back to the study. "It's not an excuse though. Being that bitter about your boyfriend's accomplishments, what an idiot. He should be proud of you."

The corridor was silent, which was not a good thing. Harry did not get mad often but when he did he became the incarnation of silent fury. His glare could shut up even Tom, so that was saying something.

Tom pushed the door open and smirked at the sight of his lover. Harry was standing, arms crossed, in the middle of the room facing Lucius with a scathing glare. Lucius knew better than say anything when Harry got like that and kept quiet and still on his chair by the window.

When he saw Severus trailing behind Tom, Harry softened his face and came to him, caressing his face. "Hey Sev, you still want to teach him a lesson ? I wouldn't stop you." He said.

"I would," said Tom, staring at Harry. "He needs to be punished but we need him alive Harry. Our sweetheart here would leave nothing but smoky remains." They smiled at each other. Scaring Lucius was the best way to get him to listen. His pride often got in the way during fights and this was one of the only things that got him to snap out of his attitude.

"We're going to have a talk, Lucius." Tom declared. "Actually we should have had this talk a long time ago." He went to stand in front of Lucius. Harry sat in his armchair by the bookcase with Severus sitting in his lap.

"You were taught Pureblood supremacy theories by your family. We understand that. But you have to understand, these theories only lead to the weakening and altogether disappearance of magical beings, especially in a small community." Harry was trying to appeal to Luc's reason.

"You know that, you've seen it." Tom said. "Inbreed like the Blacks and your children turn out insane. Marry only other Purebloods and generation after generation, your children get weaker, both in body and in magic. Most Pureblood families only have one child at a time, because the amount of miscarriages and malformed foetuses is too high."

Lucius didn't seem to want to understand. He kept his arms crossed and frowned at the others.

"Luc, you know a lot of Halfbloods and Muggleborns." Severus came to take Lucius' hands in his own. "Purebloods are slowly dying out, and continuing on this path is only self-destruction."

"But Father always says that our blood is the most important thing about us. That we would be nothing without it !" Lucius answered.

Harry cursed Abraxas Malfoy and his ancestors before him. Placing value in something no one could change about themselves, what pricks.

"So you're saying a Halfblood would mean nothing to the Wizarding World, right?" Tom ventured. It was time to rock his world's perception.

Lucius nodded. "That's what I learnt."

"Would you say that I, as the Dark Lord, am nothing to the Wizarding World ? Or that Harry, the prophesied Savior of the Light, equal to me in terms of power is nothing ? Or Severus here, who is a near Master of Potions at a mere 14 years old, far more powerful than any other before him, is nothing ?" Tom continued.

Harry knew where this was going and was very entertained with Lucius' confused face. He stood next to Tom and said : "We three are the main actors in the present World History. And we are all Halfbloods."

Lucius was flabbergasted. The Dark Lord, his mentor and role model was a Halfblood. Harry, his only rival in terms of magical power was one too. How could it be ?

"You lie !" He had no other explanation.

Severus was frowning again and let Luc's hands fall from his grab. He sighed. The boy was infuriating, there was no way to make him see reason.

"Will you listen, you idiot ? You've been brainwashed by your family and their whole Pureblood society." Tom spat angrily. "My mother was a witch. A Pureblood even. And my father was a muggle. Not a drop of magical blood in him. And here I am, a Halfblood raised in the muggle world , the Dark Lord and the most powerful being in Britain."

That was not possible...

"My mother who was a Muggleborn was one of the best students at Hogwarts and an amazingly powerful witch. She married a Pureblood and had me, your Lord's equal." Harry added.

But...

"My mother was a Pureblood witch. My father was a good for nothing alcoholic muggle. Yet they had me, the one you are so jealous of. My magical power exceeds yours even with that 'muddy' blood in my veins." Severus finished.

All of them had Pureblood parents, and muggle or muggleborn parents. And they were the greatest people Lucius had encountered. They were the indisputable best in their fields. The evidence kept piling up.

"New blood is necessary to renew our nations' power." Tom stated finally.

Lucius had not option but accept it as fact. His Father had lied to him to keep his fragile pride intact. And he had believed in it so much he had hurt his boyfriend when defending his skewed perception of the world.

"Sev, I'm sorry I said that. I was a dumbass." Lucius tried to apologise.

Severus was still hurt but he knew that Lucius had swallowed his pride and was trying to change. He opened his arms in invitation and Lucius hugged him close.

"It's alright, Lovely. I'm still mad but you can work on paying me back." Severus said. He was already trying to come up with a suitable punishment for his insufferable boyfriend.

**Day 118 - Lucius has a problem**

**Severus : 15 Lucius : 17 Tom : 26**

Severus and Lucius were laying in bed on their afternoon break. They had passed the first part of the break making out and were now content to just lay next to the other.

"Sev, I have a problem." Lucius said out of nowhere.

"Mmh ?" Severus responded, nearly dozing off.

"I like Harry."

"I like Harry too Luc that's not a problem." Severus answered, unconcerned.

"No, I mean I like like Harry. Just as much as I like you." Lucius repeated.

Severus sat up in the bed and repeated slowly: "I like like Harry too Luc that's not a problem."

"What ?" Lucius sat up too and faced his boyfriend. "Why didn't you tell me ? I thought I was going crazy !"

"I thought it was obvious, lovely." Severus sighed. "We all love Harry, you know that right ?"

"Yes, yes, but i didn't think it was the same kind of love. Do you think Tom would be okay with it ? Me liking his boyfriend ?"

"I don't know what to tell you. He loves us too but I'm not sure if it's the romantic way of a kind of familial love. Even if he loves us he may not want us in his relationship." Severus had already thought about it at lengths it seemed.

"I want to tell Harry. How do I do it ?" Lucius asked.

"Why are you asking me ? I don't know ! I made you realise by yourself that I liked you." Severus pointed out.

"I'll tell him today, it's decided." Lucius stated.

Even with the decision clear in his mind, he was at a loss. He couldn't find a way to convey his feelings with speech. He was scared of making a fool out of himself. He wanted to hold Harry the way way he held Severus, to kiss him for hours and sleep with him at night. He wanted to caress his skin, to breathe in his sweat as he fucked into him and... Whoa ! One thing at a time. He would have to tell Harry soon, before he lost his mind to fantasies.

He decided to act this evening. Harry was sitting on the sofa, playing cards with Severus. Tom was sat in an armchair closer to the fireplace and was doing crosswords in the Evening Prophet.

Lucius stalked up to Harry and planted his feet. His nervousness was obvious in his stiff posture and perfect composure. Harry left his head from concentrating on his cards and gave Lucius a wide smile. His lips were a sweet pink in colour and perfectly plumped. Harry had the habit of biting his lips when he focused on a problem. Lucius was losing his mind. Harry was simply too pretty. His eyes, now partially obscured by a concerned frown, were the purest shade of moss green, emphasized by the last light coming from the garden.

If Tom killed him for this, his tombstone would spell 'Lucius Abraxas Malfoy 1954-1998 , died ensnared by a green-eyed beauty'.

The last thread of his control snapped when Harry, out of concern for the still silent Lucius, reached towards him and caressed his cheek with only the tip of his fingers. Nobody could resist such temptation. He cracked.

He grasped Harry's jaw and covered his lips with his own. Harry's eyes widened in surprise. Severus gasped. Lucius straightened up. He decided to go all out before anybody had the chance to react more.

"I really like you Harry. I just wanted you to know." He stated.

And then fled.

Ten minutes later, Severus came to find him where he was panicking in his bed.

"Am I going to get killed tomorrow, Sev ? Did you plot my demise with them before coming here to finish me off ?" Lucius asked in a dramatic tone.

"Don't be an idiot, lovely." Severus answered. "You didn't see it because you were fleeing like a coward, but Harry was smiling after you kissed him. He looked very happy, I even think he was blushing a little."

"Really ? And what about Tom, he's going to torture me for hours." Lucius said with a dejected air.

"Tom just said 'finally' and went back to his crosswords, you imbecile."

"This is too good to be true... You're trying to spare me ! And tomorrow will be my death !" Lucius cried out.

"Stop being so dramatic and kiss me, Lucius." Severus demanded. "I never thought you would just go up to him and kiss him outright. What a Gryffindor move !"

"Don't criticise me ! I'd like to see you tell him !" Lucius countered.

"Soon. Now cuddle me and shut up, I want to sleep."

All was quiet for a few moments before Lucius broke the silence.

"I think I like like Tom too." He said.

Severus groaned and went to sleep.

**Notes:**

The wait between chapters was too long so I made a longer chapter. This is the first time I've ever written a sex scene, sorry.


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 127 - 5/09/1998 - Horcruxes and the hunt**

**Severus : 15 Lucius : 18 Tom : 28**

Tom was rather curious about how Harry had so much accurate information about him and the Dark Side. Harry said he was basically undercover in the Light Side and had little to no contact with the Dark Side. How could he know so much ? And how could he have such personal details ? He said he had had access to Tom's own memories !

They were busy these days, reinforcing the wards as much as they could. It was the start of the school year and they were unsure about the state of their defences. It was becoming suspicious that no attack was made on the door. As they didn't seem to find time for that discussion during the day, Tom decided to broach the subject later. They were lying in bed, cuddling, as was their habit. It wasn't very late but both of them were tired after a day of work. Not so tired as to make intelligent speech impossible though.

"Now will you tell me ?" He asked.

"What exactly do you want to know ?" Harry answered with a sigh. This wouldn't be an easy conversation.

"Where did you get all that information about my goals ? You said you have seen my memories, but where could you find them in the first place ?" Tom asked him.

"You must promise not to punish anyone for what I am going to say."

"You know I can't promise you that. However, I can say that I will listen and try not to get too impulsive." Tom said.

Harry nodded. He knew that was the most he could get. He took a deep breath and began.

"I know about your Horcruxes. I have most of them."

Tom was very still beside him, his wariness and subsequent anger manifesting themselves in waves of cold power around Harry. He shivered and lifted his eyes to Tom's. Tom's eyes were cautious. Tom trusted him but his most guarded secret was out and he was feeling vulnerable. Harry had to speak quickly to calm him down.

"They're here with us and they're intact. Can't you feel them ?" Harry knew that Tom could feel his soul pieces even if they were away from him.

Tom had taught himself not to search for his soul shards unconsciously. It took too much energy to always seek out their signature. His cold power expanded to search around the house. "I can feel six echos. How many did I make ?" Tom sounded calmer, probably because he had felt their energy himself and had made sure of their safety, but the tension didn't completely leave his frame.

"In total you have seven Horcruxes but Nagini, your snake familiar is not with us. I think she's still at Riddle Manor. You would have felt it through the familiar bond if she had been hurt."

"Just stop talking for a second." Tom seemed ready for a panic attack. "You know entirely too much about me." He stood up and began pacing.

Harry sat against the headboard and watched Tom. The subject was very delicate and Harry had to be very careful about how he explained things.

But he had to make Tom understand that he was completely on his side and that no harm would come from him. Tom was used to feeling safe in his power as nearly nobody knew anything personal about him, allies or enemies. This blatant vulnerability was surely new and terrifying.

"How did you get them ? They were hidden where no one would have thought to search and heavily protected." Tom asked warily.

"It's a long story. You have to remember that the Lucius that we have here is not the one who did what i'm going to tell you."

"Lucius ? What about him ?" Tom was staring at Harry with dread in his eyes.

"He gave your diary to a 11 years old girl."

"HE DID WHAT ?"

"He was under scrutiny from the ministry because there were a lot of Dark objects at Malfoy Manor. He most likely didn't know it was one of your Horcruxes, anyway. He probably thought it was a cursed book or something." Harry always gave too many details when he was nervous. "He gave the diary to the daughter of the guy who was hired to audit his belongings, Ginny Weasley. Your diary took control of her mind for most of the school year, reopened the Chamber of Secrets, nearly killed some Muggleborns and the girl herself. I was suspected to be the Heir of Slytherin because it got out that I was a Parselmouth. So I investigated -I spare you the details- and discovered the entrance to the Chamber just in time to save Ginny, who is one of my best friends now. But your soul shard was hell bent on constructing itself a proper body with someone's magical energy so it tried to kill me."

Harry had decided that getting everything out at once was the best way to do this. He was nervous and his speech was fast and clumsy. Tom sat down, shocked by the onslaught of frankly worrying information. Harry took a good breath before continuing. "The thing is that it kind of recognized me."

"My soul shard recognized you ? But I was sixteen when I created this one, it couldn't know you." Tom's voice was faint. He appeared to be thinking about that fact before the light of realisation shone on his face. He extended his hand towards Harry's face and touched the lighting bolt scar with the pad of his fingers. Harry felt a trickle of magic brushing against his forehead. "My soul. How ?" Tom was literally gaping by now. His anger and wariness had all but disappeared leaving place for amazement on his features.

"It's also a long story. And I'm not completely clear on the details. But it was accidental."

"How long have you had it with you ? You must be the first human Horcrux ever. This is quite fascinating."

"Since I was one year old. Actually I'm not the first, I researched it and I'm the third. In the world. So yeah, still pretty rare." Harry was still nervous. Tom was looking at him like some kind of puzzle he had to decipher.

"We'll have to talk about it afterwards. You were telling me about my diary trying to kill you. Continue."

"It recognized me and stopped. The years of isolation had made it a little crazy, no offense, and the contact with the soul piece in me calmed it down. A little. Just enough for me to hide it for a while and make Dumbledore believe I had destroyed it."

"So you got all the information about my goals from my sixteen year old self ?"

"Not exactly. He gave me some information but, as I said, he wasn't super sane at the time. So he gave me a bunch of nightmares about the location of another Horcrux. To scare me I guess. It backfired, made me more curious about it than scared. I got your ring that summer. The ring's 'Tom' was also crazy, which was all sorts of fun to keep from my muggle relatives. I had discovered that prolonged contact with me managed to make your soul pieces more stable so I wore the ring in a necklace and had the diary in my pocket at all times." Harry said.

"I found the next one by chance when I was in sixth year. It was in the Room of Hidden Things." Harry was still ashamed about his actions with the Halfblood Princes' Potions book. Sev would remember eventually, but Harry didn't want to dump too much information on Tom at the same time, they would discuss it later. "This soul piece was actually quite sane, probably because it was kept in Hogwarts, where the magic of the castle and those who live in it would appease it." Harry continued.

"Which one was that ?" Tom was twenty eight right now and could remember that in his 'first' youth he had planned to make six Horcruxes but didn't know if he had acquired the objects he wanted to create them all. He knew he had had already produced the diary and the ring when he had been sixteen, the cup and locket when he had been nineteen, and had prepared to turn the diadem eventually. He didn't know if the project had succeeded and what object he would have used for the final Horcrux.

"Ravenclaw's Diadem." Harry answered him, confirming his memories. "I found the remaining two last year with the help of some of my friends." Ron and Hermione were not aware of his Grey side. They had been manipulated by the Light Side for so long and they would not accept the truth calmly. They would rebel at the idea of the Light being anything if not the best and Harry couldn't have them mistrust him, his cover depended on his friends' ignorance. They would be told when Harry had secured every one of his allies and could take the risk to expose himself.

"Hufflepuff's Cup was at Gringotts, in the Lestrange Vault and Slytherin's Locket was in the Black House. Both of them were completely twisted and I've been keeping them as close as possible so that they could recover."

"Why did you involve your friends in this ? Are they in your organisation ?"

The mistrust was back. For a good reason. Tom didn't want anybody to know about his one weakness. Harry knowing about it was acceptable because he had revealed himself to be Darkly inclined and because he was a Horcrux himself.

"The thing is that Dumbledore knows about them too." Harry winced, seeing Tom's rage grow. "He had doubts about my link to you and the fact that I am a Parselmouth. He confirmed his doubts with the access to Horace Slughorn's memories in my sixth year."

Hearing that name made Tom snap out of his raging thoughts. He had been reticent to Obliviate the professor after he had been so helpful. And at the time he had been young and naive, thinking that he had been vague enough and that his questions would be passed as something minor. Dumbledore was too smart for his own good.

"Did he find any of them ?" Tom asked in a very careful voice.

"No. I managed to find most of them by myself and either replace them with a cursed fake or convince people that I had destroyed them. The curse I placed on the fake ring got Dumbledore. His hand began to rot. It would have killed him in the year had Severus not killed him before that." Harry saw a malicious glint in Tom's eyes. He smirked in answer. "Dumbledore sent me and my friends on a quest to destroy your Horcruxes. We were on the road most of what would have been our seventh year at Hogwarts. I made sure that my friends didn't know the truth as they are too deep in the Light side."

So all his Horcruxes had been saved by Harry. He needed to thank him for that. At the time of their creation, Tom had been too arrogant to even think that someone could one day find them.

"You said you had to keep them close to you, so why are they in a locked box in the study ?"

"They took badly to the isolation from consciousness and magic." Harry said. "I wore most of them as transfigured jewelry, sorry by the way, so they could have contact with my magic. They are mostly recovered and only need the ambient magic that they get here in Hogwarts."

"The soul piece in you is healthy but it's not conscious." Tom was frowning and staring at Harry's forehead. He still had some questions, especially about Harry.

"This one is in constant contact with a living magical soul and lives through me. It doesn't need to become conscious to protect itself because I protect it with my life. The other Horcruxes feed on my magic by skin contact and proximity to achieve the same effect."

"Doesn't it tire you ? Your magic is not made to sustain more than one soul." Tom was concerned about his lover. He had lived most of his life with Tom's soul attached to his own, after all.

"I got used to it I guess. It's not life endangering, nothing more than a strain on bad days." Harry shrugged.

"What exactly does it give you access to ? You said that Dumbledore was suspicious because we had a link."

"It made me a Parselmouth and gave me access to your thoughts and senses when you had great enough emotions. You were aware of it and manipulated me and sent me nightmares." Harry said it as if it was an anecdote, but Tom was sure that such a deep link to the one he perceived as his enemy would have been thoroughly used against him.

Tom needed time to get his feelings back under control. He was still very wary. Harry had once again surprised him with his knowledge and efficiency to solve problems that Tom didn't even know existed. The young man before him was a very loyal and powerful associate who would follow him in pure faith. And on top of that he loved Tom as a person. The insecurity that shined in Harry's eyes sometimes and his unsure way of explaining his work had to be addressed. He was at this time the best man in Tom's ranks and should be proud and sure of his position.

He would tell him soon. The shock and the avalanche of information needed to be dealt with before he became close with Harry again, for fear that they would fester in a constant wariness and distance between them.

He explained his decision to Harry and decided to go back to his old room for the night. He still kissed Harry goodnight to reassure him. The cold bed that welcomed him helped his racing thoughts little and he passed most of the night rearranging his thoughts.

In their room, Harry curled up on his side and rested his head on Tom's pillow, using the lingering smell of his shampoo to soothe himself.

He knew that Tom had no reason to resent him other than the fact he had discovered the Horcruxes. The anxiety that turned his stomach around did not take that into account and made him think back on the conversation for hours before he fell asleep.

**Day 136 - 14/09/1998- Memories of servitude**

**Severus : 16 Lucius : 19 Tom : 29**

"I remember joining you."

Tom was surprised by the interruption of the comfortable silence that had settled over the three of them while they studied. Lucius was the one to talk. He was sprawled in a couch over the window, with a book perched on his knees, but he hadn't been reading it for some time.

"I remember joining because I wanted to make my father proud. I didn't even know what you were standing for. I was scared and useless and too prideful to ask for advice." Lucius was looking out the window. "I compensated by bringing more people in, like I did with Severus. I flaunted my status and panicked at the idea of having to do anything of any value for you, because I had no idea what I would be asked to do."

"You didn't force my hand, Luc." Severus interrupted.

"But I showed you the way, Sev. And I sold you dreams and glory when you were feeling vulnerable. I took advantage of your situation."

"I was searching for that kind of thing to begin with, Lucius, you can't blame yourself for my joining. And I am not as helpless as you seem to think. I also joined without knowing the goals nor the methods. We were all lost and the Dark Side gave us some guidance. I don't regret joining as I regret the consequences of it being known. But none of that is your fault Lucius." Severus went to sit on the far end of the couch, giving silent comfort.

Tom decided to intervene before Lucius could talk himself into a full mental breakdown.

"Do you regret your actions Lucius ? And do you feel you could have acted differently given the circumstances ? I don't yet remember that time, I can't well judge what you say."

"I regret joining you on false pretenses, and advocating for a cause I didn't even know the first thing of. From the memories I saw in the Pensieve, I did well and began caring about the cause, but I can't shake the feeling that I was sort of an impostor." He rested his head in his crossed arms, balanced on his knees. "I don't know if I could have done anything differently. My father was very authoritative, I had little leeway to make my own opinions and decisions. That sounds like excuses, doesn't it ? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't even know if I'm a real Death Eater or if I'm just pretending because I got in and can't get out."

"If you were just pretending you wouldn't be one of my most trusted, you wouldn't be my right hand man." Tom sighed. "Your concern is unfounded. You can't change your past actions, and the result is your present status and power. I don't think anyone could blame the young man that you were -and are- for having doubts, especially after joining a group of people that aims to change the world in a radical way. I would actually be more concerned if you didn't have these doubts."

Severus began playing with Lucius' hair, braiding some strands near his ears.

"We don't even remember the whole story yet." He said. "You will be free to judge your past when you remember the whole of it."

"What I would like to know, is if ,now that you are aware of my goals, you agree with them." Tom asked.

"And what if I don't ?" Lucius seemed wary. "It's not like I can leave. It's not like I can change anything that happens in my real life while we're stuck in this place."

"As you said, we are stuck here. And we are vulnerable, and don't remember enough to make decisions that would impact our 'real lives'. If you want, you can decide to stop being a Death Eater for now, and I would ask you again when we are free of this curse." Tom stood up and put away his books. "You can think about your decision for a while, and tell me later. That applies to you too Severus, I don't want you to feel pressured into anything, now that you have the choice."

He turned to leave, but after a second turned back and marched towards the couch.

"You are both worth more to me than just lackeys and subordinates. I hope you know that. I may not remember much of any of you, but the relationship that we built while under this curse is important to me. I would never let you down, and even if you choose to stop participating in my cause, I still would love and cherish you."

The two young men were astounded and nearly gaping by the end of his speech. Tom decided to surprise them further.

He leaned over, placing his hand on Lucius' jaw and gently touching his lips to that of the younger man. He left him after a while, dazed, eyes still closed and mouth softly gaping. Tom then passed over to Severus, sliding his fingers through his long hair, kissing his cheek, the corner of his mouth, to finally take his lips hostage in a short dizzying kiss.

He smirked a little when seeing their reaction then left.

Lucius was still gaping after the dramatic exit, while Severus touched his lips with the tip of his fingers, still tingling from the kiss.

"Well that answers the question, I definitely like like him."

**Day 139 - 17/09/1998 - Severus's confession**

**Severus : 17 Lucius : 19 Tom : 30**

Severus was tired of the doubts and anxiety. He needed a straight answer or he would go crazy.

It had been three days since Tom had kissed them but nothing had changed in their relationship. What did that kiss mean ? Did Tom acknowledge their attraction to him -and also to Harry?- and accept it ? Was it a kiss born of pity or a flash of intense emotion ?

Severus knew where he stood with Lucius. They were both attracted to each other and to both Tom and Harry. But he had no idea whether their feelings were returned and the uncertainty was killing him.

He was determined to get a definite answer today.

He waited until he knew everyone was available and then dragged his boyfriend to Harry's room. He knocked on the door, unwilling to barge in and interrupt an intimate moment.

The door opened to a frankly unfairly hot Harry, dressed only with boxers, giving them a playful look and a smirk. Severus heard Lucius' gasp at the sight and sighed. This could not go on any longer or both of them would go crazy from refraining the urge to kiss this man.

"We need to talk. All of us." He demanded. Harry seemed to understand the gravity of the subject at hand and got a more serious look. Sev then pushed in the room and let Lucius' hand fall from his grasp. Tom was sprawled half-naked on the bed, lips kissed red, hair mussed and eyes still glazed over. Obviously, they had interrupted quite the make out session. To see Tom that vulnerable was a surprise. He never let himself appear less than perfectly in control. To know that Harry was capable of doing that to Tom... let's just say Severus was glad he was wearing loose robes this day.

Harry went to sit on the bed, back to the headboard, and arranged the slowly recovering Tom to lay his head on Harry's thigh. He then began to comb his fingers through the older man's hair, making the latter sigh in contentment. The pair of them were quite a sight, disheveled and completely at ease with each other, with quite a bit of skin showing. Severus had to blink a couple of times to gain focus back on the pressing matters.

Lucius was sitting at the foot of the bed and moved one of Tom's feet to make some space for Severus. Harry quirked an eyebrow at Severus, waiting for him to explain. But as usual, Sev didn't know how to express his feelings. Lucius was biting his lips and massaging Tom's foot with great concentration, letting the silence grow.

"I know exactly what the brats want, Harry." Tom broke the quiet in a sure way, letting his eyes fall shut and his lips curl into a smirk. "They want in on the relationship thing. And I might be inclined to let them, on certain conditions obviously."

Harry looked at the two youngest, asking for confirmation.

"What kind of conditions ?",asked Lucius, answering Harry's unspoken question.

"I am not having sex with either of you for now." Tom was sitting up, to look Lucius in the eyes. "Aside from the fact that I feel I am much too old for you, at least for now, I am demisexual and I am not yet feeling any sexual attraction to you. There is no shortage of romantic attraction though, so rejoice, you can kiss and cuddle me however much you want." He spat out the word 'cuddle' like he often did when he spoke about muggles, as if he was not in this very moment being caressed by both Harry and Lucius. He could pretend to be above affection but the truth was written in his unguarded expression and completely relaxed body.

"You're not too old for Harry ? He's younger than me now." Lucius was confused.

"We began our relationship when we were the same age. It is easy to continue as we have been. With you two, I would have to begin a relationship when you are more than 10 years younger than me. It feels wrong. So the more intimate part of the relationship will appear with time. For now I'll just have to endure your kisses." He kicked gently at Lucius' hands, smug.

The news of Tom's openness to their attention was definitely a good step but Severus still worried about Harry's opinion on the matter, as he had yet to speak during the conversation.

"Harry ?" He tried, with an inquisitive tone.

"Mmh ? Oh, I was just wondering how we could all possibly fit in this bed for cuddles. We'll have to wish a bigger bed from the Room..." He smirked, looking proud of himself.

Severus was so relieved at this declaration that he threw himself at Harry, kissing him with all his might. Feeling Harry's lips under his own was a new kind of high, one that he didn't think he'd be able to go without now that he had tasted it. When they separated to breathe, Tom caught his chin and took his mouth in a fiery kiss that left Severus gasping for a breath and dazed.

He turned to look back at Harry, seeing him held into a soft embrace by Lucius, kissing tenderly. Somehow in all his fantasies, he'd never imagined that the picture of his boyfriend with the other men in his heart would be quite this fetching. This was going to be fun.

**Day 145 - 23/09/1998 - Studying charms and potions **

**Severus : 17 Lucius : 20 Tom : 31**

Lucius' and Severus' mastery of their fields was complete by this time. They had passed the requirements for the formal degrees as Potions Master and Charms Conceiver, mainly the creation of 3 original items and perfect execution of even the hardest of concoctions or spells.

Severus had invented an all-in-one hair potion that bleached roots, lengthened and softened hair. Lucius had been offended to be offered one, as he continued to fight the now common knowledge that he bleached his hair. Severus had revised the headache relieving potion to render it non addictive and more long lasting. His third creation was impressive as he managed to adapt Demiguise hair to create an invisibility liquid that made objects disappear from view. He had yet to create the counter potion for that last one and kept stumbling into his new 'invisibility cloak' that always seemed to be in his path.

Lucius had devised a permanent enchantment for a self opening door, that he had already placed on every door in the house. He had created a definite sight rectification charm, effective on all optical isuues. He was most proud of his third spell, an information conjuration that permitted to find a specific word in a long text.

They both found inspiration in everyday tasks and interaction.

Severus took notice of Tom's migraines, the mountain of Lucius' hair products and Harry's tales of his invisibility cloak and created for them. He was always taking notes in his tiny notepad and muttering about needing proper ingredients.

Lucius' spells stemmed from a frustration of some kind, like the lack of grandeur in their living space, that obviously would be arranged by swooping into the rooms without bothering with door handles. He was also tired of having to take Harry's glasses off when he wanted to kiss the man so he did away with them. His general impatience with research permitted his best breakthrough yet and he was sure that others would follow.

The process of creation was complex and long. Severus had to grow his ingredients and catch the magical creatures that appeared in the garden for their hair, feathers, nails, horns and other properties. He had no access to rare magical creatures or those that didn't live in the region. He then had to prepare all his ingredients by cutting, drying and sorting them. His experiments with several recipes meant that he went through his stores quickly and had to replenish them often.

Lucius passed hours researching ancients texts for the proper language and wand movement for his new spells. He often had to read tomes in other languages, mainly latin and greek though he seemed to favor arabic treaties about wand movements. He also experimented them in the only large space available, the garden, and had to put up a shield to protect Severus' plants and Harry's flowers.

The both of them were fast becoming adept at first aid, as their experimentations tended to involve explosions and other colorful effects.

The only thing that interfered with their motivation to create was the annoying ignorance as to what they had already invented during their first youth. The bookshelves in the Room of Requirement could only summon books and newspapers that existed in the Hogwarts library, so they could not check to see if their ideas were truly original ones. The relative level of their mastery meant that their inventions would be published in more complex publications than the Hogwarts library was subscribed to. They could even have kept some of their discoveries private in journals that would only be accessible in their private rooms at the Malfoy Manor and the Snape house at Spinner's End.

Their current project was a joint endeavor that had them study the implementation of spells in potions. Harry had asked them if it was possible to create some kind of magical grenade, based on muggle weaponry he had seen as a child on television. If the magical grenade worked, the fighters would only have to throw them to invalidate a good number of their enemies, all without having to cast a spell. They could save time and attack more opponents at once. This kind of weapon, completely unknown in the Wizarding world, would permit the Dark Side to surprise its adversaries and take the advantage. The mere suggestion of it had Tom swoop Harry up in his arms to kiss passionately.

So the four of them had tried to find a way to make it work. The only problem they encountered was the actioning of the grenade. The potions to mimic tear gas, flash bombs and new inventions to cause paralysis, and other uncomfortable effects had been dealt with. The hard part now was to find a way to remotely activate the grenade or find a way to make it delay its actions. The muggle system of a safety pin was useless in this case as the potions had to be diffused in the air with a spell.

At this moment they had several ideas.

They could put the grenade in a time stasis that would deactivate with a hard enough shock. This would prove useful as the throwing of the grenade would be enough to activate it. But it would be complicated to store and transport them, especially if the user was engaged in a fight that could accidentally jolt them.

They could put a delaying charm on them. But the charm would have to be cast on the grenade moments before its launch, which would nullify the advantages of the item in the first place. Lucius was determined to find a way to implant the charm into the object and activate it without having to cast.

Lucius' idea had sparked another invention in Tom's mind. If they could pull it off, he wanted to have physical stores of magic or actual spells. They could be used as back up in case of exhaustion or even as another kind of grenade, that wouldn't necessitate potions. Tom had a great desire to one day use a Cruciatus in a can. This would take a lot of research and experimenting but if anyone could do it, it was the four of them.

**Day 148 - 26/09/1998 - The dark ritual**

**Severus : 17 Lucius : 20 Tom : 32**

Tom was preparing something. He had been shifty and sneaky -more than usual- for the past several weeks, but it was becoming harder to ignore. He was cutting on sleep to continue his reading, waking up before dawn and leaving the giant bed to plan something in the study.

Lucius didn't know exactly what Tom was doing but he had an idea about what he could be conceiving. The only thing that would demand such elaboration and time was a ritual. The discretion was surely due to the fact that most rituals were of a Darker nature.

There was no rule against Dark magic here but the urge to stay secretive was still strong. After all they all knew that beyond those walls their actions would be heavily criticised. They had become accustomed to using minor Dark spells in their everyday lives, just because it came more easily to them than Light magic, but a full-blown Dark ritual surely seemed more serious. Lucius was not surprised that Tom would feel the urge to hide. The habit was far too ingrained to even try and fight it. And Tom had had more time that Lucius to set that teaching into stone.

Lucius was far too curious for his own sake. He had to know what Tom was doing. He was quite fond of the man after all -euphemism- and was pretty scared of the effects of the ritual in question. Most Dark rituals demanded organic ingredients, often from the caster themselves. He had no idea how Tom was going to collect the ingredients without causing permanent damage. He was a genius at pretty much every branch of magic save for Healing. As for the sneaking around, it meant he requested privacy from his housemates to go about his business, which never promised anything good.

Lucius decided to take action that night. He waited for Tom to leave the room before he woke up the other two men. He knew that Tom wanted to do everything on his own but he had to learn to trust all of them if they were to be together in a significant way.

He explained the situation to Harry and Severus and gave them the choice to follow him or not. The both of them did not appear to be surprised that Tom was hiding something. They were as perceptive as Lucius if not more and had noticed his behaviour, even though they didn't know how to address it.

Harry was very enthusiastic about following Lucius to confront their oldest but Severus was more hesitant. He didn't want to bother Tom in the middle of his project, even if he was worried about him. It took some coaxing from the other two to get him going. They all moved towards the study, where some light was visible underneath the door pane.

The door swished open on its own, thanks to Lucius' work with the permanent Charms, to reveal Tom, sitting on the floor surrounded by books and papers, a quill in his hand. There was some rune work going on on the floor before him. At the sound of the door opening, he lifted his head up.

"Well, what are you all doing here that late ?" He didn't look too unhappy to see them but seemed to know exactly what they were searching for.

"We were just a bit worried about you going through a ritual on your own." Severus said in an uncharacteristic bout of sentiment expressiveness. "I didn't want to bother you but you got Lucius and Harry wound up pretty well."

"Well we can't have that, then." He came closer to them to engulf all three of them in a bear hug. Tom was always more shy with his affection but he knew to comfort his lovers with it. "Come sit with me. I'm sure none of you will go back to sleep without a complete overview of my project so better get to it now. You guessed right, I am considering a ritual."

They got comfortable on the sofa. Harry was leaning back into Severus' chest. Next to him was Tom, with a human blanket by the name of Lucius, who just couldn't get enough of his cuddling tendencies.

Tom launched into his explanation of the ritual, with the help of magical visualisations of the rune work involved, the arithmantic strategy and the intended incantations. What they noticed from his speech was that he gave no reason for his need of the ritual in the first place or what exactly it would do. According to the math, it had to do with time and soul magic. Which was very worrying considering the previous attempts at soul magic this particular individual was known for.

There was no speak of splitting the soul, however, just anchoring.

"So you mean to say you devised this ritual to ...what ? Anchor your Horcruxes in time ? You want to anchor your soul anchors ?" Harry sounded a bit sceptical.

"Not exactly. It's more of an aesthetic goal." They all looked at him, surprised. After all, he was famous for his thirst of power and he had sacrificed his appearance to achieve a burst in power and immortality. For him to use powerful Dark magic, simply for aesthetic reasons was quite anticlimactic.

"Hear me out," Tom continued, "I have noticed the general trend of problems the Dark side encounters these days and changing my appearance has a great potential to reduce them. The Dark side has a reputation of cold blooded killers and nonsensical monster tendencies. This is mainly due to the Light side propaganda and my general fall into insanity, apparently. Whatever the reason may be, we have no credibility as a viable party and our goals are dismissed or mocked without consideration because of it. I won't have that. I am the leader of a political and social organisation, not a terrorist group !"

He stood during his speech, pacing and gesticulating to drive the point home.

"The easiest way to reclaim our reputation is to offer a new view of ourselves and our goals. This way, people will have to reconsider their opinion of us and actually listen. For that to work, I have to look approachable and not like a human snake hybrid."

"That seems logical," said Lucius, "but why soul and time magic ? You can change your appearance with a glamour or potions."

"I want a permanent change that will keep my healthy and natural body, not a facsimile created by magic. The only way to get that is to freeze this body in time and anchor it with my soul." Tom explained. "I have run the numbers for the best age at which to do so, as I have access to my natural body during my entire lifetime thanks to the curse. The best way to anchor the ritual is to use all my existing Horcruxes to this day and draw on their existence as frozen bits of my psyche and body to equilibrate the appearance."

"So," Severus tried, "as you made your Horcruxes at respectively 16, 17, 19, 20, 30, 55 and 68, the best moment would be the average age," There was a slight pause as he calculated. "now, at 32. Is that right ?"

"Exactly. So I will go ahead and complete the ritual today. My body should keep this look even after the curse is lifted because of the anchoring."

As his mind seemed to be set and his reasoning sound, the men decided to assist him in his task, to make sure the procedure was as risk-free as possible. Lucius looked over his incantations, Severus checked the arithmancy and runes and Harry set to the drawing of the revised runes and the healing after Tom collected the blood needed.

They worked together efficiently and were done with the preparation in no time. They would use the available Horcruxes' presence to help the ritual along, Nagini's absence not impairing the procedure as Tom could reach out to her by the link he felt with all his soul pieces. They checked everything at least thrice before they were sure enough in their calculations to safely involve Harry as one of the Horcruxes.

Tom was to stand in the middle of the runic circle, his blood smeared at the four cardinal points and his Horcruxes just outside the circle surrounding him. Harry chose to place himself in front of Tom so he could check on his lover during the ritual.

The incantations were simple but had to be repeated during the whole thing, from the moment Tom entered the circle to the moment he exited it. He began chanting, took his place and wasted no time before he began the ritual itself. He poured his magic in the space around him, exhibiting excellent control by stopping the wave just inside the circle. The runes flashed with light as they activated and sucked the blood in their markings. The magic filtered through the Horcruxes, Harry felt the Dark raw power through his scar, and settled in Tom's body. He looked like it was painful but he kept going with his chanting until the moment he stepped out.

He then all but collapsed, exhausted by the outpour of power and the control he had to exert to keep the ritual from failing and hurting him or Harry.

When Severus came by to help him up, he noticed that Tom's usually light blue eyes had more of a teal colour now. Surely a result from one of his Horcrux being housed in Harry's body. He didn't seem to have any visible feature linked to Nagini, though they would make sure later when they checked on him. He was now in serious need of rest so Lucius put a featherlight Charm on Tom and Levicorpus'd him straight to the bedroom.

They all surrounded Tom to catch a nap, as they had been deprived of sleep by his shenanigans.

**Day 153 - 1/10/1998 - Harry gets sick**

**Severus : 18 Lucius : 21 Tom : 33**

It was around five in the morning and Harry was unable to go back to sleep. He was sandwiched between Lucius and Severus, with Tom's arm bridging over Severus' waist to rest on Harry's arm. It was far too warm in the room and even with blanket kicked off, he couldn't get comfortable. After a while, he decided to give up and extricated himself from the tangle of limbs in the huge bed. The alarm was set to go off in an hour anyway, he hadn't lost too much sleep.

He was wide awake and wanted to make sure they were safe. He had gotten into the habit of checking the wards every morning, as opposed to every week, ever since the pounding at the door stopped. It seemed suspicious that attacks on their defenses would stop all of a sudden. For now he had only spotted the normal wear and tear that happened when wards were in place for a long time without getting renewed. He had updated all the failings shields and had asked Lucius if he could Charm the outer areas to signal if a ward failed.

This morning he noticed a single crack in the main ward that guarded the entrance to the Room of Requirement. The crack seemed stable, not spreading nor receding, which was quite peculiar. Wards had a tendency to collapse when their integrity was threatened, even by a tiny speck. And if by chance they were strong enough to withstand the damage, they were self repairing enough that the crack would disappear in seconds.

Harry bent down to look at the fracture. It seemed to be oozing a fine mist.

"Harry ! There you are !" Tom exclaimed, surprising Harry into a gasp. "We prepared breakfast. What are you doing down there ?"

"I was just checking the wards." Harry answered. "Come look at this, it's weird. The ward seems broken but it's static."

Tom inspected it and was shocked to see the strange phenomenon. He ran different diagnostic spells on it to determine its cause and the structural integrity of the overall shield, but most spells came back blank. The only information they conveyed was that the crack was not the result of a magic decay, like usual. They would be doing research on it this day, to make sure the wards were not compromised.

At breakfast, Harry felt a bit lightheaded and had just a bit of juice and a croissant. His face was paler than usual but his lovers chalked it up to his lack of sleep. Harry was still smiling and joking with them, so they were not worried.

After they finished their meal, they went to the study to begin their work day. Tom and Harry were looking into warding and Severus and Lucius went about their business, trying to get a grip on the grenade detonator. During the research on the defective ward, Harry had to lay down on the couch for a while, as he was very dizzy. Severus was becoming anxious about Harry's pallor and came to check on him. He found Harry's skin cold and clammy to the touch. His forehead was heating up with fever. From that point on, Harry was deemed sick and Lucius took over his research to let him rest.

Harry didn't feel better. Severus treated him with several potions and spells, yet his illness didn't disappear. When Harry began to throw up and become far too feverish for his continued health, his three lovers began panicking.

He was rapidly getting sicker and responded to no treatment they could find.

In a fit of inspiration, Lucius began interrogating Harry to determine the source of his illness. They retraced his steps from his awakening to the present moment. The only thing that could have any obvious effect on his health was the lack of sleep but that would have been fixed by the Pepper-Up potion, or the simple cure. The examination of the shields was the sole event that stood out in his morning.

Tom decided to take another look at the ward just to be sure. He was firing diagnostic spells again when he noticed it. The fine mist that oozed out of the fracture. He summoned a vial and captured some of it. He then stuck some sellotape on it, to stop the mist from polluting the ambient air. He commandeered the lab and Severus' mastery to study the composition of the chemical.

In less than a half-hour, Severus had discovered the properties of the mist. It was a airborne poison that he thankfully knew the counter potion to. He gave Tom a bezoar to stabilise Harry during the time he would need to brew the antidote. They had the scariest hour of their lives, waiting to see if Harry's situation would improve after they gave him it.

The fear of losing Harry had them nearly mute, and huddled together on the floor near Harry. Tom was sitting up, spine straight, impassive, holding Sev and Lucy to his chest. Lucius, crying silently, was caressing Harry's hands. Severus was slumped into Tom with a blank stare at Harry's head.

When Harry's eyelashes fluttered as he woke up, the three of them let out a relieved sigh, smiles breaking out on their faces. Harry was exhausted after all this excitement and dropped right back to sleep. After making sure he was recovering okay, the three men surrounding him let him rest and relocated to the living room.

"This was obviously a trap. Someone in the castle managed to break in our defenses and spread this poison to kill us. Had Harry not done his round this morning, the ambient mist would have killed us all before we'd managed to notice it." Tom's voice, usually silky smooth was a deep grumble, expressing his rage and making the two younger men reminiscent of their days at the service of one Lord Voldemort.

They had cleared the corridor of the mist and had sealed the crack while they searched for a more permanent fix. The obvious answer would be to take down the ward completely and then reinstall a healthy one. But that would leave the Room unprotected for a too long stretch of time.

"The Light side don't even care that Harry is here with us." Lucius' tears had stopped flowing but his speech was still rough. His anger and devastation was manifesting through bursts of lighting power around him, crackling as his voice did. "They planned to kill everyone in here, without a care that Harry would suffer with us." Silence. "He is still their Saviour as far as they're concerned ! They don't know about his real allegiances to the Dark ! They don't care !" The lightning was crackling furiously now, its noise intimating the sense of betrayal and dumbfounded hurt Lucius felt for Harry.

The three men were enraged by the carelessness from which their youngest love was suffering. Their powers rendered the room arctic cold, thunderous and oppressive. They were going to protect Harry with all their might. They would find the culprit for this attempt and make them an example for all those who thought they could hurt him. They would patrol the limits of the Room daily to keep this incident from repeating. Their fury would send their enemies hiding in fear. Harry's brush with death would not be forgiven.

**Day 162 - 10/10/1998 - Gardening and cooking with Severus and Tom**

**Severus : 19 Lucius : 21 Tom : 34**

Severus was tending to his aconite plants, careful to never even brush his arms above his gardening gloves against the fragile flowers. He needed the plant to improve the famous Wolfsbane potion. He had a nice base concoction that would perhaps nullify the terrible infamous taste the potion had, if only he could find a way to incorporate the aconite without breaking up the flavour.

It was a nice day out for October and the cold breeze only served to keep him cool enough to not break a sweat even with the physical effort he was making. He had had to uproot and replant a small tree that restricted the space his garden could grow into.

He pause for a while, pensive, trying to find a solution to his flavour problem. He lifted his eyes a bit and noticed Tom staring at him through the kitchen window. He looked fond, his eyes crinkling, his mouth turning up into his most charming smile, the one that was completely genuine and innocent. He caught Severus looking back and beckoned him closer.

As Severus was finished with his gardening for the morning, he took his gloves off and went to join Tom in the kitchen. The man was still looking inordinately smitten.

Severus washed up his hands and forearms in the kitchen sink, to get rid of the excess dirt that had caught in when he was working. His simple black t-shirt was good for the laundry as he had not bothered protecting it during the uprooting.

Tom came behind him and plucked the leaves that had landed in his hair. He then caught Severus in a hug and hooked his chin on Sev's shoulder. Severus had grown a lot these past weeks, as evidenced by the growing tree they still updated every time they had a memory burst. As a result, he had nearly caught up with Tom's final height, which made cuddling less disproportionate.

"You are aware that most of the work you did this morning can be done with magic, I am sure." Tom's voice was but a murmur in his ear. "It is very... endearing to see you put that much effort in your craft, sweetheart."

Severus wanted to answer him, tell him that his ingredients would be of better quality if they were allowed to grow without magical interference, but Tom had chosen this moment to start kissing his neck, biting lightly just behind his ear. The only sound that passed his lips was a long moan.

Tom was very motivated to mark Severus' neck with light bites and hickeys. He kept the man from moving by pressing him up against his body and keeping his hands on his hips. Severus was reduced to cursing and moaning, tilting his neck to offer better access.

They were caught up in the moment and both of them startled when the timer Tom had put on his cooking rang. Tom had picked up the cooking when Harry was recuperating from his poisoning and had discovered, not a passion per se, but a keen interest. He was at this moment cooking a dish of fish and creamy lemony sauce.

They separated and Tom added the last ingredients to his dish -a good helping of carrots and green beans- before setting the timer again. He then turned back to where Severus was sitting against the counter.

As they were now face to face, Severus cupped Tom's jaw in his palms and kissed him square on the mouth. They embraced again, Tom's hands pressing Severus to him while exploring his back, Severus' going up to play with Tom's hair. They made out slowly but possessively, with sure, long, breathtaking kisses.

Tom was reticent to cuddle but was always willing to smother his loves in kisses. The passion he exhibited left them all dizzy and hard. He had not become more intimate with Lucius and Severus yet, but was not hesitant to rile them up.

The calm but deep kisses petered out, leaving them with simple pecks, gentle slides of lips and slow movements. Severus let his head fall on Tom's shoulder as they took comfort in the easy intimacy between them.

Tom's eyes were still closed, his head tilted to rest on Sev's.

"I love you."

The whisper of those three words had Severus snap to attention. He knew Tom loved all of them, but he had never expected the man to say it out loud, at least not yet. Tom seemed surprised he had even uttered the words, his eyes wide open and unsure, staring right at Severus. His displayed vulnerability was as astonishing as it always was.

"I love you Tom."

The answer was easy. The truth was light and escaped from his mind to echo his his voice without a thought. The effect on Tom was simply beautiful. He relaxed at once, his soft smile making a comeback. They rested their foreheads together as they could, Tom tilting his head down a bit to accommodate their height difference. They let their eyes close, breathed as one and savored this moment.

* * *

**NOTES**

The dates for the Horcruxes were taken from wikia and are :

diary -09/1943- 16 y.o.

ring -sep/dec 1943- 16 y.o.

cup -1945/1946- 19 y.o.

locket -1946- 20 y.o.

diadem -1956- 30 y.o.

harry -10/31/1981- 55 y.o.

nagini -1994- 68 y.o.

average= 32 years old

Also : I added the dates of the scenes on top of the number of the day, tell me if you like it or not !


End file.
